Yin, Yang, Flames
by TammyHybrid21
Summary: Every story has to start somewhere. It could be something simple, or something complicated... Or it could just be growing up. Unfortunately sometimes that means that you get dragged into a war that honestly shouldn't exist, and a world that you thought was only fiction. Well isn't this a mess, on top of the regular struggles to truly find your own identity.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** The original Pokéumans concept belongs to pokemonmanic3595 over on Deviantart, and I'm only playing in the sandbox

* * *

Every story has a different beginning. Some of them start in a dream, a snippet of an idea, or even something small like a moment when someone trips. Others start big, with a war, or a fight, the world is ending and it all rests on one... But this story starts as many do.

With a teenager, who's just trying to live their life as best that they're able.

Learning about themself and dealing with changes. Some expected such as the awkwardness of puberty and new emotions and experiences. Others less expected, such as yellow flecks in brown hair, and small tinges of red in hazel eyes. A pair of ears that poke out, still brown much like her hair.

"What in the..?" she narrows her eyes and raises a hand to one of the ears. It twitches at the action and she blinks before turning away from the mirror and calling out. "Mum why do I have canine ears growing out of my hair!"

"Don't worry it's just puberty!" she frowns and one of the ears twitches in annoyance. "Just wear one of those caps that you have to hide them if you're that worried!" the teenager grits her teeth together in annoyance before stalking out of the bathroom ignoring her younger brother as he passes her to proceed to his morning shower, scratching his backside as he goes. She eyes him for a moment before shrugging and then returning to her room where she grumbles at getting dressed in her school uniform.

She frowns and then wipes it down and sighs before shaking her head. Now she's ready for school. Mostly. She only needs to have some breakfast, double check her bag, grab her instrument for band practice and find a hat that would actually cover the two new appendages on her head. Both of which flicker a bit and she nods to herself. Before she leaves her room though she grabs a small necklace from off her desk and slips it over her head and around her neck. The familiar weight of the shark tooth against her chest makes her sigh and then she brushes one hand through her hair.

The rest of the morning is routine, grabbing her back and shoving her lunchpack inside. Straightening up the folder that contained her textbooks and pencil case and then moving to make sure that the saxophone that she used for band practice was right where she could grab it. Reassured that everything's in order she grabs an apple and heads out into the yard. Awaiting her right by the door are two dogs. One brown and white, the other black and white. Both of them wag their tails at the sight of her and race around a bit, the black and white one barking a greeting.

"[Hey! Hey!]" she freezes, one foot still half way back to the ground. Hazel-red eyes go incredibly wide as the canine continues to speak. "[Tamara's here. Dinner? No, walk then, walk! Walk!]"

"P-peppy?" she stumbles over the dog's name and both of the animals just freeze in place. For a moment it's all still, slowly though both canines turn just enough to look at her. The moment breaks right after that and it's back to normal, both dogs barking and no words that she can hear in the barks. "I must still be half asleep..." she mutters to herself before plopping down in one of the plastic chairs by the back door.

"[Play? Tamara play? Run chase?]" She starts when the brown and white dog trots over with wide hopeful eyes and a shaking bottom. "[Tamara play chase?]" the canine repeats rising up on their hind paws and resting their forepaws on the chair between her lap.

"Not dreaming..." she says eyes going even wider and the half eaten apple falling from her hand to the ground.

"[Apple! Mine now!]" Peppy says bounding over and swiping the dropped apple. She turns her head just enough to look down at the canine who bares a kind of grin up at her before happily munching on their swiped prize.

"Y-you're talking... the dogs are talking!" Both canines freeze before looking up at her, the apple lays forgotten at Peppy's paws.

"[Tamara understands us!]"

"Yes... I understand you..." the girl says. "Obi, Peppy, why do I understand you?" she asks pointing from one dog to the next. Both of the dogs look at each other and then back at her. Everything is still and quiet for a few moments before Obi huffs and answers.

"[Shark Tooth.]" Obi says dropping back down to the ground and shifting in place. The canine looks distinctly uncomfortable, she frowns and wrinkles her nose. Canine ears twitch in brown hair and she's about to ask something else when the dog snaps it's head back up. "[No time, Tamara must go... School doesn't wait!]"

"Wait you didn't-"

"[Worry later! I come with, bag fit?]" Obi cuts her off and trots inside causing her mother to start shouting at the canine which blithely ignores her. "[Bag fit?]"

"No. My bag does not fit you!" the teen says more than a bit grumpily. "And besides school doesn't allow pets on campus. Unless they're guide animals, or trained police rescue animals." She barely notices her brother walk into the room, stare blankly for a couple of seconds and finally just decide to walk back out of the room. "If you start laughing, I will, I'll, I'll do something!"

"[Ignore him, school... need me!]"

"Oh and I suppose that Corey needs Peppy then..." Obi shakes her head in disagreement with the teen who puffs up her cheeks and then stalks out of the room. Simply done with the conversation. Reaching her room she digs through her cap draw finding that none of them are suitable for covering the extras that she has. It's frustrating and she almost wants to just scream and tear off her school clothes, swap them for pjs and play sick for the day.

It would make everything so much easier at least.

She stops, takes a deep breath and then blows it out.

Getting upset won't help her at this point. It won't help her, so she takes another deep breath. It won't help, it'll just trigger an attack. She really doesn't want to have trouble breathing if she can help it. Doesn't want to end up clutching desperately at her chest struggling to force air into her lungs. So instead she controls her breathing and keeps her eyes closed.

Focus on the sounds around her, outside the window. The breeze, the small tap, tap of the dogs paws on the pavement below the window. The slight swish of the blinds and the small sounds that remind her where she is. Calmer she opens her eyes once more and walks over to her wardrobe once more. This time though when she shifts through her draws she doesn't just focus on her caps.

Which means she ends up pulling out a white knitted beret that suits her purpose. It's kind of scratchy, especially against the fur of her ears but it works well enough in regards to concealing them.

Even if it's going to annoy her for the rest of the day.

"Whatever..." she sighs glaring at her reflection and adjusting the beret one last time. "I'm ready for school now... so it really doesn't matter."

* * *

Most of the rest of the day is uneventful. It just seems to drag on. The most interesting part of the day is the start with Art Class, and that's only because they're not really doing that much aside from setting up their profiles and designing the front of them. Afterwards it's English, Maths and a little bit of Drama class, nothing special.

At least, until the very end of the third period/beginning of the forth. As the bell rings out she feels her ears twitch beneath the beret, and a tickle in her nose. It's annoying, especially as she feels it coming but then it doesn't quite arrive.

Those seated closet to her have the same semi annoyed looks, probably just as annoyed by the lack of a sneeze. She whips a hand up and rubs it under her nose a bit. And stops, she stops and frowns looking at her hand in confusion. It looks normal but when she rubs it against her skin, it feels wrong.

Shaking her head she simply returns to her workbook, trying to think about how to do the essay on Harvey Krumpet when she's missed so much of everything already she might as well be in the year below what they actually are. It's annoying really. Annoying and rather disheartening, but she's coping. Always coping.

Although the current teacher, a substitute just rubs her the wrong way. The lady feels weird, and she knows that she's on the defensive. It's instinctive. Something's wrong and she can't place what, so she tries to focus on her work.

Which is much harder than it should be because she's just missed so much.

Health issues, family issues, other issues.

Nothing is ever simple. The tickle is back and she sniffs, a sharp intake of breath and this time it doesn't just stop. Although what she's expecting from it is not quite what she gets. Rather than wet drips of saliva, there's a burst of flame that flickers and quickly disappears leaving the surface of her workbook slightly singed.

Of course that small flicker of flame catches everyone in the room's attention. She sniffs again wiping her hand over her nose before realizing that everyone's attention is on her.

"What are you all looking at?" she asks blinking in confusion. Really, she doesn't understand, sneezing flames is nothing new, she'd been doing it over the weekend as well. At first it had been shocking but now.

"You're one of them!"

That phrase, a shudder shoots through her body. It's like being dunked under an ice-cold spray of water from the shower and she feels the way that her pupils shrink and dilate a bit. _Pok_ é _umans_ a group on Deviantart she'd recently discovered and taken a faint interest in.

But that's fiction right?

She doesn't have time to think though, everyone is looking at her. Or at their classmates confused. It's a seventy-thirty split of the class really(with the majority in the confusion category). Which for a class of twenty-five is a pretty decent amount. Also the teacher is still normal, or at least not reacting by losing all expression and reaching for something that's not there.

"No!" She's shaking her head, standing up and backing away from the desk, she can feel her hackles raising. The ears hidden under her beret lowering, in anger or fear she can't quite tell. Her lips curl and teeth bare themselves in a snarl. She shifts in place, on the balls of her feet ready to bolt. Or possibly fight, though she barely even knows how to throw a punch.

"You're one of them!"

Of course that would be the moment that there's a knock at the door of the classroom. Everything becomes still and even those who're blanking(disassociating?) turn to look at the door.

* * *

 **Notes:** For a reference in regards to the timeline I shifted it a little bit in regards to my original story Spewing Fire. Where that takes place in February 2014, this story begins March 2014, a month later. It's slightly more convenient for me.

Also again it starts on a Monday, with the transformation first beginning on a Saturday. For specific dates think the transformation started March 15th 2014, and the current day of the transformation is the third, and it's March 17th 2014. In story... so yeah.

Also, simplified the way the dogs speak.


	2. Chapter 2

It's almost as if the whole world is holding its breath, waiting to see just who's going to poke their head into the room. She's honestly not sure if she's expecting a Pokextinctionist dressed up as a pizza delivery man, or someone coming to fetch her for band practice.

To her relief, the boy who finally pushes open the door and pokes his head in is familiar. A fellow member of the band. He blinks confused grey eyes looking around the classroom before scratching a hand through his hair and asking.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No, not at all!" the teacher says, grin becoming just slightly fixed. The faint twitch causes her to snap her head around, pay just a little more attention. While the substitute hasn't gone weird like her classmates that small action indicates that something is wrong here. The teacher can't be what she seems.

"Tamara?" she blinks and looks back at the boy in the doorway. Hazel tinted red meet grey and he tilts his head. Before straightening it and relaying his message. "Mr. B would like to see you for band practice."

"Right. Gotcha!" she nods her head and a grin flashes across her face. "I'll be right there. Sorry Miss..." she blinks and abruptly realizes that at the start of the period she wasn't paying enough attention to catch the teachers name. "Uh... Sorry..." she can feel the faint heat in her cheeks and her hidden ears twitch. She makes her way out of the classroom, noting that the rest of the class are slowly returning to normal.

So it wears off after a while, _interesting._

The moment that she's outside the classroom she takes off, straight for the office. First to collect her instrument, next to actually get down to the music room. That's all the way on the other side of the campus, great. Her shoulders slump just slightly and she huffs out a breath. A bit of smoke comes out as well and her eyes follow it's path skyward.

She wipes one hand over her face and begins walking. It's a fairly sedate pace that she sets. She's in no hurry to get to band practice, not really. And besides Mr. B is one of the more understanding and patient teachers. Well at least he is in regards to her, though that's probably due to all her issues. Mental, physical and of course the others. It's also probably why he's her favourite teacher, aside from Mr. Kline the Drama teacher. Of course both of them are good teachers. Very good at their jobs and at motivating the class.

Or single student, considering that most of the music lessons are spent one on one.

A faint smile crosses her face and she can feel her ears twitch. Only that smile quickly drops, disappearing at the sight of an unwelcome guest on the grounds of the school. A doggy grin meets her scowl and the canine bounds over easily keeping step with her.

"What are you doing here?" she hisses eyes narrowing at the brown and white canine.

"[Tamara needs me!]" Obi says tongue lolling out of her mouth happily. As if the teenager wasn't death glaring her. "[So I come. And stay!]"

A deep breath, inhale, exhale and she looks up.

Avoiding looking at the canine as she finally makes it to the office. She can see the way that the office lady scowls. Displeased with the canine's presence. Well, Obi certainly wasn't a trained guide dog, or police dog so she could understand. She accepts the black case that contained her saxophone, turns and walks away.

Walks away towards the music room. Obi easily keeps pace with her, she's temped to lash out at the canine. To scare her a bit, but the impulse quickly dies and instead she simply huffs out another breath. Walking down the last ramp before the music room she slows and stops outside the door, looking down at her companion.

"Obi..." she says and the dog sits down and looks up at her. "Stay out here okay! Remain out of sight... I don't need to get into any more trouble today!"

"[Okay, I wait.]" Obi says with a happy bark that doesn't translate to anything else. "[Careful, Evil lurks ready pounce!]" she could actually translate that for herself, clear it up a bit. Evil lurks, she rolls her eyes. When doesn't it lurk, always just out of sight. She pushes open the door and instantly her ears are met with a beautiful tune. The sound of a clarinet. Her eyes close and a smile stretches all the way across her face.

Ears twitch again and she opens her eyes to see who's playing.

It's like been dumped under a spray of cold water when she distantly recognizes the boy. Much smaller than he should be, smaller than Richard, missing most of his clothing due to the fact that he's covered in grey fur, pointy ears, a muzzle. Fluffy tail, although, his front paws, are still hands. Yet it's looking at his still human face aside from the muzzle that makes her recognize him.

"Daniel?" she splutters a bit, because wasn't she just seconds ago in class with the same boy seated next to her? "B-but... you were, what?"

"You can remove the beret you know..." he says lowering the clarinet from his muzzle. "We're all in the know here."

"In the know of what?" she finally manages to find her voice. The door behind her makes a sound and she turns to see it open just enough to let Obi in. Her eyes narrow since nobody else enters. Just her canine companion.

It puts her more off balance, like Daniel's presence here when she knows that he was seated next to her in the classroom.

Finally Mr. B enters from one of the back rooms. The slender man holding out his hands, palms facing towards her. An attempt to placate her. It doesn't really work, instead she takes several rather large steps backwards and away from the man the ears under her beret lowering until they're painful against the top of her head.

Daniel lowers his clarinet even further and sighs. Slowly he takes it apart and she snarls, baring her teeth at them both. Mimicking her Obi does the same.

"What's going on? Are you going to do the same thing that my classmates did?" hands curl into fists by her sides and she bristles.

"Now calm down." Mr. B says and she narrows her eyes at him. Hackles raising since that statement has pretty much the opposite affect. Winding her up more, rather than calming her down in any way. "This... this might be hard to believe. First off, what do you know?"

Daniel finishes with his clarinet, closing the black case with a click and then he looks over at her. Over at Obi.

She blinks and frowns. What does she know? Not all that much, but considering her earlier thoughts and reactions. Maybe Pokéumans is more than just a story. It's a strange thought though and it makes her expression pull in a weird way.

"I know that something weird is going on..." she eventually says, still on the defensive. Still baring her teeth, and with ears flattened down against her skull. "Something that echoes of a Deviantart group... a group that I'm only vaguely familiar with." she admits, albeit rather sheepishly. She hasn't actually had much to do with the group yet.

Merely a passing interest. A slight curiosity, and reading the first chapter of the story that began it all... And a couple of others. Enough to recognize some things. But that was still fictional, and this is reality.

"But... that's not real, right?" She's suddenly much less sure about that.

Especially with the state that Daniel is in. The way he appears in front of her. Almost down on all fours, except not quite there yet. More canine than human. Just a few small features that show who he is.

"And yet this is happening..." the almost canine boys huffs out. "Transformations, strangers tracking us down... Odd occurrences that nobody else seems to notice." he taps one hand on the clarinet case by him before offering her an odd smirk. "So do you still think it's fictional?"

"I-I... I don't..." she looks around fully expecting someone to jump out at them. To say that it's all a prank, something like Prank Patrol, or a similar show. Yet no one's showing up. Her ears twitch again and she sniffs at the air a bit. Nervous.

"Tamara..." she looks up at Mr. B, still fearful. "Please understand, we mean no harm. It's just, we're all part of something bigger." she feels like snorting, because that's a loaded statement and it assumes a lot. "You need to understand though... you're not alone." That's rather obvious she thinks, looking meaningfully at Daniel. "Yes, Daniel's a part of it... but also there are more people across the whole world in the same position as you!"

She simply looks at him with a bland stare. She already knows this, just based on the information that she can recall from the story. From the group, a passing interest is still an interest after all. Yet, her bland look turns into a furrowed brow and confusion.

"But... how do you know about this Mr. B, I thought that..."

"People still make mistakes. And sometimes when they're more focused on capturing the transforming Pokéuman, they don't check for witnesses. At least, not quite as well as they should." it makes her want to groan, or facepalm, perhaps both. So even a top secret organization that kidnapped kids and wanted to dominate the world had lazy slacker employees who half-ass their jobs.

Go figure honestly.

"[Idiots...]" Obi huffs from her side and she twitches. Before shifting her beret and scratching the back of her head.

"Okay..."

"Of course, it's not quite as clean cut as that. There are two sides to this secret war, and it's hard to tell which side is in the right and which is in the wrong."

"That's the way with most wars honestly... Both sides feel justified in what they're fighting for..." she says with a frown. "And people just get caught in the middle. Sometimes a cause is obviously wrong... especially in regards to genocide" Oh boy this is reminding her of history class and studying the holocaust again. "But usually it's more grey than that, both sides have their positive and both their negative..."

"Although considering that one side in this case uses brainwashing..."

"Which kind of brainwashing?" she has to ask, because there are more than one kind. The educational, which takes years and years, the persuasive method, which also takes time and also needs a lot of reinforcement, or the final one the suggestive which is more like hypnotism and also can't force people to do anything against their morals.

Everything is silent after she asks the question. It's as if they don't really know. Which is worrying in it's own way, because who knows.

Who knows, although her brow furrows again as a kind of logic inserts itself. It quite likely varies from base to base, after all. They're run by different people in different areas. In different countries, but also it's a pretty important question. Because most brainwashing is subtle, and you don't notice it. But at the same time if you're aware you resist it better.

"Of course, there is a kind of middle ground... and that's where we'll be going! According to Mr. B the Roamers Association has a meeting in this one building not that far away. The next meeting is in another couple of weeks." he explains looking over to her. Meanwhile she blinks, because that's a piece of information that she didn't expect. It also brings up the question of how and why Mr. B would know that.

"I have an associate in the group." Mr. B says with a closed eye smile. "He'll be waiting for you at the other end of the tunnel. And will keep you hidden until the date of the meeting. April third, a Thursday!" he explains as she gives him a sideways confused glance. Annoyance is starting to creep in as well, everyone already seems to have plans.

Plans for her, and they're not asking her for any input. She's not sure if she likes this idea.

"[Danger!]"

"Already..." Daniel says while Mr. B narrows his eyes at the door. She feels her ears twitch and also turns just slightly to the door.


	3. Chapter 3

"Daniel." Mr. B says and it's the tone in his voice that makes her snap her head up and just look at him. She's never heard that tone from him before. "You know what to do. Take Tamara, and wait." Wait? Wait for what? She doesn't have time to really wonder though as the canine boy salutes and leaps down tugging on her hand.

Leading her out of the main room. Into the hall, Daniel looks back to the glass door at the end of the hall, a quick glance. Her gaze follows, there's no one at the door. Still the boy has a frown on his muzzle and he hurries her down the hall to the side room at the end. He pulls it open, just barely able to reach the handle. He waves her in and she rolls her eyes.

She hesitates for a moment before walking in. Obi on the other hand bounds ahead into the room.

It's... it's a lot bigger than she expects and she can't help but gasp. She's never actually been in this room, with it's soft brown carpet, the plain grey painted walls and the large piano off to the right. Sure she's peered into it once or twice, but she's never really been inside. Daniel sits on the piano's stall and smirks at her. She spins around and stops.

On the back of the door is a poster.

Photos are pinned up on the poster. Every music student. Some of the pictures are circled, others are crossed out and there are a few with extra notes in marker beside them. All are with their instruments and it's a shock. Many of them are also people who've already graduated, or even quit the program.

Her photo is up near the top right corner. Circled and with a couple of notes, _likely fire type._ She frowns and wants to ask Daniel but he holds a hand up to his muzzle. A single finger at his lips, the sign for silence. It's easy enough to tell why, footsteps and voices, though muffled through the door. She turns with a frown and Obi stiffens before snarling at the door.

Daniel moves quickly, curling one hand around the canine's muzzle. She bristles at the boy's action, he looks at her with a slightly arched brow and she can actually see fur creeping up his face. It makes her blink, because she's able to see it growing. In fact, a closer inspection of the hand he's got curled around her dog's muzzle shows another difference. His fingers are beginning to fuse together. Making his hand more of a paw, except that it lacks fur.

It's startling and she actually jolts backwards. And into one of the spare music stands in the room. There's no stopping the chain reaction that causes as every stand falls over and some of them land on the piano... making it complain with jarring out of tune(and order) notes.

"Sorry..." she says hands half curling defensively in front of her body. The word feels strange in her mouth though and she can feel the sharpness of her canines.

"Hey! I heard something!" Both teens and the single dog turn to face the door. Daniel palms(paws?) his face before ducking down and crawling beneath the piano. "I'm going to check it out!" she looks around desperately as Obi ducks behind the fallen stands. In a flash of clarity she figures it out. Pulling one of the chairs up right and fixing on of the stands she clicks open her Saxophone case.

Just barely in time as the door swings open. She blinks up at the man in the doorway, the perfect picture of innocent confusion. Good thing she was in drama classes, willingly. A better thing that her extras are well hidden under her beret.

"Do you need something?" she asks. The man blinks and looks around the room, finally he glares at her clearly suspicious. She simply decides to act as if she's ignoring him, taking out the pieces of the saxophone and carefully slotting them together.

"I'm watching you!" he growls slamming the door shut behind him. "Nothing but one of the students!" she hears him call and blows out a relieved breath. Daniel pokes his head out from under the piano and looks up at her. The angle that it's done on makes her blink. It's adorable, ears that flop over his head, paw hands on either side of his muzzle and big bright red eyes.

"Aww..." her cooing makes him scowl at her. He wriggles the rest of his way out from under the piano and shakes himself free of the dust that's gathered in his fur. She covers her mouth with one hand, amused before he huffs and sits back on all fours. Obi makes her own way out from behind the fallen stands and sits down by him. Looking at them side by side she's amused to note that Daniel is the exact same size as Obi.

"Anyway... they should leave soon enough..." he says rolling his eyes and determinedly looking away from her. "And then we'll use the passageway!" a smile curls across his muzzle and she tilts her head. "I'll finally be getting out of here!"

"Right..." she mutters and shifts her position. She takes several deep breaths and then places the mouthpiece to her lips and gently blows into it. Daniel's ears both twitch and he turns back to face her. "And I'm sure it'll be great. But what about my lesson? What about _school?_ "

"Don't you miss it all the time anyway?" he asks blinking in confusion and she huffs, a scowl crossing her face.

"Yeah... sure... But that's not the point." She grumbles, glaring at the instrument in her hands. "and 'sides, it's not like I want to miss out on schooling..." stupid issues with her health and everything attached to it. A small buzz of pain in the chest, but it's not enough to mess with her music lesson. Not enough to prevent her from practicing. Not today.

Daniel makes a confused noise before turning to the door. It's pulled open again, this time Mr. B pokes his head in. She ignores him, and instead focuses on her instrument. She's annoyed and upset.

"[Tamara?]" Obi asks unsure. Mr. B frowns before joining them in the room and gently closing the door behind him.

She ignores him as well. Instead scrunching up her face and closing her eyes. The sting and bite of tears at the edge of her eyes makes her sniff. She doesn't want this, everything is moving way too fast. She's getting overwhelmed and it feels like she's drowning. A paw touches the side of her leg and she jolts opening her eyes to meet the gaze of her canine companion.

"Are you okay?" Mr. B asks and she sniffs again. She lowers her saxophone and wipes one sleeve over her face.

"No... I'm not okay... I-I don't know what's happening and everything is just... it's all moving so fast..." tears trail their way down her cheeks and suddenly everything burns up. Sadness flows red hot into anger and she bares her teeth. "I'M NOT OKAY! Nobody's asking me if I want to go anywhere... No one's asking my opinion. You just already have a plan, and now I'm part of it just because!" she glares at both of the boys in front of her, teeth flashing and a growl in the back of her throat. "Well guess what, I don't agree with it. I don't want to just go off to some strange location simply because something is happening. I get that I'm changing but that's life, and I'm allowed to say no. I'm allowed to choose for myself." she slumps a bit and sets down her saxophone. She doesn't want to break it. "I may not have chosen the transformation... but... can't I at least choose where to go from here. Without being forced one way or another in any direction?"

Daniel and Mr. B both blink as she wipes a hand over her eyes again. She slowly takes a deep breath, both to calm down but also to ease the tightening in her chest. It hitches and she grimaces before blowing it out and trying again. There's a sort of click in the back of her head before she allows herself to breath normally again. Without the pain.

Daniel frowns and one of his hind legs comes up to scratch the back of his head. He's clearly unsure, but the action causes her to blink in confusion. It's not exactly what she's expecting since they're still humans inside, aren't they?

 _We're still human where it counts right?_

The thought isn't as comforting as it should be and she shivers faintly before ignoring it. She picks her sax back up and looks towards Mr. B. He smiles softly at her before grabbing a seat of his own. Daniel huffs before jumping up on the piano's stall, seating himself ready to listen to her practice. She feels a faint burn in her cheeks before huffing.

The lesson proceeds as they all do. She plays a couple of songs from the book. When the Saints and Old Macdonald. Afterwards she's feeling much better and smiles at both the teacher and Daniel. Daniel however frowns back at her. His paws are now fully covered in fur, and there's only a small portion of his face that has yet to be covered.

"You're hair is yellow..." he says and she blinks. At some point she'd removed her beret, it's sitting on the back of the chair. "Well mostly, it's also black." he says and she frowns. A hand raises up and she pulls a bit of her hair around where she can see it. He's not wrong. It's black, and yellow. Except the yellow stops much higher than where the black begins, and touching it. The areas that are yellow feel stiffer than the rest.

Firmer. She frowns, because that's weird. Her hair has always been kind of soft and bouncy, with a lot of poof. So why's this part course and firm? If this is truly puberty then she's not sure how much she actually likes it. Of course, it was bad enough with one other little detail. Her repeating cycle every month. She's going to have to find someone on this side of things to double check the details about that isn't she. Because animal biology is weird.

She really doesn't want to know if she'll be experiencing it as a 'heat' the way animals do, or if it'll be continuing like normal. Either way it'll be awkward.

Also, she wonders what kind of fur she'll have. Daniel's is long and somewhat shaggy, perfect for the colder weather that's beginning to creep in. Though, he'll probably have to deal with shedding as well, if it's just a winter long coat. Her ears twitch in some amusement at the thought before she looks over at Mr. B.

The man is frowning. Considering the saxophone case, and considering her. A tight frown, and a furrowed brow. He looks at her and back to the case. One hand begins tapping against his leg and her ears twitch and perk up as he begins to hum a little tune. Before he abruptly cuts off and growls.

"Nothing... there's not enough indicators yet?"

"Mr. B?" she tilts her head bewildered. What does that mean. The man simply shakes his head and walks out of the room, grumbling to himself. Daniel on the other hand sighs and paws his face.

"He's talking about your relative size. The size you'll end up once fully transformed." the boy explains, and that does absolutely nothing for her confusion. If anything it makes it worse, since why would her size change. It abruptly clicks in her mind and she groans.

"Right... that!" she grumbles feeling her ears half flatten. Also there's a tingling on the side of her head, where her human ears are. Or where they should be. Raising her hands up and placing them over the areas indicates that they're missing. "I... I actually think that I might be becoming a Houndour though." Daniel blinks and peers at her.

She rolls her eyes and Obi barks a laugh before lying down. She doesn't respond to his appraising look. It's not worth it. Eventually Daniel jumps up and he trots around her. She blinks and spins slightly to try and follow him. He sits back, on his haunches and raises one paw up to what serves as his chin. Frowning with his ears tilted ever so slightly he finally nods.

"Yeah, I can see that. The ears certainly fit at this point, and the slight shimmer around your hands!" He decides. Mr. B comes back into the room and blinks at them both. The man smiles at them before he pulls out two small packs from behind his back. She takes her pack with a small frown. Daniel on the other hand quickly opens the pack and peers inside. The boy's eyes both widen and she arches a brow.

Daniel flashes her a wide grin before reaching into the pack and pulling out several books, a clarinet case(in his size, clarinet included), a drink bottle, lunch pack, what looks like an iPhone, and a watch. He tucks most of the stuff back into the pack before fastening the watch around one paw.

"Check what's in yours!" he says tail swishing eagerly behind him. Obi trots over and joins her in peering into the bag. The first thing that she notices is that it seems much bigger on the inside. More spacious than it would seem. Much like Daniel, it has the necessities, a lunch pack and bottle. Books, several of them just for reading in her spare time, others clearly for self teaching, including one Chinese for Dummies book. She gives Mr. B a dull look holding the book up for that.

Daniel snickers in the background and she rolls her eyes.

Another iPhone, and an instrument case. Small, too small for her as she is. But it would be the perfect size for a Houndour, although she would likely have to get a new one if she evolved. It's amazing though, and must have cost Mr. B a small fortune to get custom made. She doesn't have a watch in the pack, instead there's a couple of cans of dog food and a special electronic collar which Obi happily allows her to click around her neck.

"[Special! I won't lose!]" Obi says and she sighs before straightening up. She looks from Daniel to Mr. B and takes a deep breath.

There's only really one option here. Unless they want to attract attention. She's not an idiot, no matter how idiotic she can act. But the problem is, would those people have replaced her or not really. She's technically slipped through, hasn't she? A knock at the door answers that. Mr. B holds a finger to his lips and walks back out of the room closing the door behind him.

"A little late aren't you Tamara?" his voice carries well through the door and she stiffens. Especially when she hears her own voice laugh lightly as it responds.

"I'm here at least aren't I?"

The next half hour is filled with the sound of Saxophone music and confusion. She can't believe it, doesn't want to believe it. They actually cloned her, even though they technically can't be sure that she's actually one of them... It's impossible, it's strange and she's stuck sitting down and blankly staring. Obi hops up into her lap and paws at her chest trying to get her to respond.

Daniel also looks at her with worry on his face. He's fully transformed by this point, and she's able to tell what he is. Dark grey fur marking his face and paws, light grey fur everywhere else. Messy long somewhat shaggy fur, a pointed muzzle with a small fang poking out and bright red eyes. He's a textbook Poochyena.

"Tamara?" he asks and she half leans back as Obi looks her in the face.

"I'm nothing now..." she mutters. "I don't even have my own life anymore." she hears the door swing shut and a cheerful farewell from her counterpart. It's so funny in an unfunny way that she starts laughing.

This is her life now.


	4. Chapter 4

Once the school day is over both children sit in silence within the music room. During the Lunch period they had been forced to remain in the room, and properly get to know one another. All that she'd really taken away from that was that Daniel's transformation had apparently started the week before in the middle of a class presentation. In front of the whole class he'd sprouted floppy grey ears.

She cant remember the event, even though she knows that she was at school that day. It itches and she absently rubs her hands together before fingering the shark tooth around her neck. It doesn't help, even as the door opens back up and Mr. B looks over them both. He looks so sad, tears at the edge of his eyes that he quickly brushes away. The man takes a deep breath and straightens. Nodding at them both. He motions for them to follow him into the small office attached to the room.

He looks at them one last time before raising an arm up to the filing cabinet at the back of the office. There's a click and she feels her ears stand up as it grinds and complains slowly sliding to the right. Daniel takes several steps back while Obi growls and eventually it grinds to a halt. The back wall glows and a flash of light streaks across it before the wall slides down. At the end it leaves a gaping black cavern.

There's no way to really tell where the passage leads. Where it'll end. She sucks in a breath and her hands automatically curl around the straps of her new pack. She's not sure exactly how she's going to handle it once fully transformed, but she'll figure it out once she reaches that point. Daniel's doing well with his own pack all things considered.

"Tamara, Daniel..." both of the teens turn to their instructor one last time. The man takes a deep breath and then wraps them both up into an awkward hug. "Be careful out there okay. Once you step into the tunnel you'll be on your own until you meet my informant. Also, it'll be pitch black in there, so be sure to stick together okay." He sounds choked up and she sniffs. This is no time to be getting emotional though. No time for an emotional goodbye.

"We will Mr. B!" Daniel says with an awkward smile. "We'll send a message..." He adds before tugging her into the dark cavern. Obi trots in alongside them. As soon as they're inside the wall slides up behind them, and they can hear the grinding as the cabinet slides back into place.

"So this is it..." she says and she can feel Daniel's nod from beside her. "A new life... okay." The walk down the tunnel is slow. Silence reigns aside from their footsteps and she can't help but wonder what it's going to be like when they emerge at the other end. Just stepping into the tunnel was the point of no return. Or maybe that point was when she accepted the pack. She doesn't know.

It doesn't really matter though. She takes a deep breath and keeps walking. Daniel is on her left, Obi on her right. She's, glad for their presence really. Makes the darkness a little less ominous. A little less consuming and choking. Yet it's still just as lonely, because she can't actually see them, and breaking the silence that they've fallen into seems rude. So she simply walks, blind and only hoping that there's an other side to emerge from.

Daniel abruptly stops and she freezes. There's a light scraping sound, a buzz, a small flash of light. Grinding stone against stone and her ears flatten against her head. She growls before wincing at the abrupt flash of the setting sun's light right into her eyes. It takes her several long moments and a bit of rubbing before they clear themselves again. Daniel stands in the grass at the opening with an open mouthed grin.

"Look!" he turns his head to her and points one paw. To their right is the supermarket. KFC, Woolys, and some other shops she can't name. On the wind she can get a whiff of pizza and her stomach grumbles in response. She hasn't really eaten that much. Neither has Daniel and she can actually see his flush through his dark fur when his stomach has an answering grumble.

Obi one the other hand tries to guide her attention to the left. It takes a couple of repeated pawings to her leg to finally get her to look in that direction. It's the way home, back to Yinnar. Open fields that stretch out and call her to come home. It would be a fairly straight shot to. A couple of hours if she sets a good pace. They could reach Yinnar by five thirty at the latest, and her house by five forty.

But...

The meeting that Daniel's looking forwards to will be in a couple of weeks. April the third, and it's in the other direction. It makes her hesitate, because she's not quite sure what to pick now. Daniel has a plan, he knows what he's doing. She doesn't. But still she looks in the direction her house lays in. In the direction of home and sighs. Daniel turns his head over to her and blinks.

"Tamara?"

"I don't know... which way I want to go..." she admits lowering her head. In the tunnel it was so easy to just think that _this was it_. _This was what was happening and what's going to happen._ But now that she's out. It's hard again, since she's now faced with the fact that it's not that simple. When her heart is set on home and family and she wants to see the house she grew up in again, if only for one last time before saying goodbye forever.

Daniel watches her as she sighs and sits down in the grass.

"[Home...]" Obi says with a forlorn sounding cry. "[Dangerous. Change needed, go away!]" She says turning to her. All she can do is sigh as the canine noses her hand and wags her tail. Daniel steps closer and tilts his head, ears flop and he seems to be considering some things. "[Change needed, home not home anymore. Stick with pack!]" Obi says and she closes her eyes. A deep breath and she blows it out.

Standing up she looks one last time in the direction of her home before straightening up and looking out the other way. In the direction that they'll need to go to reach the building where the Roamers Association will be meeting.

"Let's go..." she says and Daniel grins at her, he springs to his feet before suddenly bristling and growling angrily. There's a rush of cold, a sensation of _danger_ and _look out_ , before the ground is ripped from under her feet and she's hanging upside down facing white and green, a dress that's long and flowing.

Angry red eyes that stare straight into her soul.

It's not as if she can escape. Distantly she's aware of Daniel screaming in absolute fury at her predicament but she can't focus beyond a rushing and a pounding. Crushing and everything spins and she can't breath. Choking on her own breaths as every thought flees and drips away leaving her head vacant and empty. Nothing, life is meaningless except that it's swirling and rushing back _too fast, too much, everything is suddenly there._ Wind in her hair and stabbing her skin, sparks in her nerves and she can hear someone shrieking.

She's the one who's shrieking. Everything is too loud, a heartbeat in her ears, growling that's right next to her, someone who's laughter sounds _too maniac, too wrong and so unnatural._ There's a robotic voice and she can feel _something. . ._

* * *

When she comes back to herself she's not quite sure how much time has past. Her head feels full of cotton and she lets out a weird grumble and struggles to open her eyes. Surprisingly her head is on something soft. It feels like a pillow, nice and plush with a decent amount of firmness. But it's missing a towel over it for the perfect texture.

She frowns and bleerily opens her eyes. Peering over her with wide worried eyes are both Daniel and Obi.

"ehughbleh..." she mumbles, her mouth not quite forming the proper sounds to vocalize whatever thought she has about the situation.

"Take it easy, you gave everyone quite the scare there!" That's a new voice. Slowly, with a fair bit of pain she turns her head to see who's speaking. It's a purple furred small rodent, cream markings and grey eyes. The stranger is grinning, an easy expression to make.

Yet something about his appearance is niggling at the back of her head. She narrows her eyes ever so slightly at him, trying to catch that stray thought. Eventually she just gives up on it and rests her head back against the pillow again. Her body feels weird, and slowly she realizes why. She's much smaller than she was before. The pillow is almost the length of her body and that's not right. At least that means it's comfortable.

How long's she been out though? That's a question that she's not able to just answer. Along with her missing height she also has a couple of other extras, metallic rings around her wrists and ankles. They're a shiny yellowy colour and she pokes at one of them curious, and confused. But they did confirm that she's likely becoming a Houndour. But what's with the colour? Why yellow instead of silver?

It's bewildering. Eventually she just decides to give up with wondering about it and instead sighs and flops back onto the pillow. It's easier to just not think. Her head still swims and everything kind of aches. She blinks before closing her eyes and yawning. Maybe she should just go back to sleep. Wake up later and worry about things then.

"[Tamara okay?]" Obi asks and it echoes weirdly in her head. Her name, her name's _Tamara_ , but it's not.

"N't me 'ny m're!" she groans rolling over and giving the canine a half hearted glare.

"Huh?" Daniel asks trotting over and peering at her with a question on his face.

"I n't Tamara 'ny m're. She is!" she struggles to explain and scrunches up her face in frustration when she realizes that Daniel and Obi both still don't understand. The rattata is watching, grey eyes filled with a weird sort of understanding. "So nee' new name!. Call me Hybrid!" she declares pushing herself into a sitting position. A sharp spike of pain jolts and rattles through her skull at the action and she moans hands moving up in an attempt to support it.

And whispy, in the back of her head, she hears a voice.

'{Am... Am I real?}' it's so quiet, soft and she could almost mistake it for something on the breeze. Except that they're not really outside. They're inside somewhere, it seems like a warehouse honestly, though she can't imagine where it might be. Concrete flooring, wooden beams and shelves that rise above them, and the pillow pile that they're sharing. So the only place that the voice really could have come from is within her own head. She's heard voices before, and footsteps that echo and follow her. But something about this one is different, maybe it's the wonder.

No, there's something even more different in this one. Some of the other voices have had that same tone of wonder, of curiosity. Otherwise she might have been able to also see a shadow, a small flicker of something just at the edge of her vision. In the shadows of the room. Yet there's nothing there. Nothing other than Daniel, the stranger and Obi. They're the only people in the room with her.

So where else could the voice be from? She's never heard voices on their own. They're always accompanied by the slightest flickering shadow figure.

'{Can you hear me?} the voice echoes in her head, noticing her agitation. It seems bewildered. As though it didn't expect her to be able to hear it. She stiffens.

"Tamara?" Daniel asks trotting over on all fours worried. She narrows her eyes and growls at him. He blinks and shuffles on his paws before backing away. "Right... Hybrid... are you okay?" he asks after correcting his little blunder.

'{No... We're not alright, we're fractured!}' the voice snipes, misplaced aggression that she's glad Daniel isn't on the receiving end of. Or is it that misplaced? Her head aches and her vision swims at the question. Since she's not sure, she can't be sure. The response from the voice doesn't seem wrong.

 _We're fractured..._

 _But... who's we?_

She shakes her head rapidly and Daniel frowns at her. He's about to open his mouth to ask when the door on the other side of the room is thrown open.

"Shit!" the rodent pokémon says eyes narrowing at the men(and women) dressed up in weird black and purple bodysuits and masks. "Pokextinction!" the rat says barring the rest of his teeth. She blinks and whips around to look at him as Obi begins growling from beside her. "I thought that we'd have more time." He paws his face before looking towards Daniel. "Hey, do you know your move set yet?"

Daniel blinks and quickly shakes his head. Obi growls slightly louder and the rodent pokémon swears as one of the people swings around aiming the gun in their general direction.

"Then you'd better learn!" The rattata says crouching down along with Obi. Daniel gulps and she tugs the pillow up as an almost shield.

'{You can sort of use Ember idiot!}' The voice grumbles from the back of her mind. She blinks and her ears twitch along with her nose. There's a sigh in the back of her head and she can almost invision whoever's speaking shaking their head. '{It might not be the safest thing, or the most efficient. But you can already use Ember so...}'

"Right..." she can feel the building heat at the back of her throat. Small sparks and a faint trace of smoke in the air. Daniel looks back at her while the purple rodent beside his begins to spark with electricity.

 _Here I go!_

Ready, aim, FIRE!

A wash of heat and pain, and lightning flashes. Screaming and she topples backwards only getting caught by Obi. Daniel on the other hand sits down and howls. The sound echoes through the room and some of the people stumble, though that might be due to the flames that still lick at the ground and obstruct their path.

"I..." she coughs. "Probably won't be doing that again..." she rubs her throat a bit. It feels like she's swallowed hot chocolate that was far too hot.

'{That was a bad plan...}' the voice agrees distantly. '{Guess nobody uses moves while still in transformation for a reason... Left!}' She quickly darts to the side as Obi spins around and snaps her jaws around the wrist of one of the suited strangers.

Daniel howls again while the rattata begins sparking with electricity again. Firing off another thunderbolt before planting himself in the middle of the room.

She could feel crackling energy and static in the air. Something big's coming. Obi growls releasing the man's hand and nudging her away. Daniel darts towards her a spark of panic in his eyes and both of their packs clipped around him.

"We need to get out of here! NOW!"

It's the last thing that's heard before everything goes white and electricity screams.

* * *

 **Notes:** First of all the reason that the Gardevoir's psychic attack still lands despite the fact that Hybrid is becoming a Dark/Fire type pokémon is simple. She's not there yet, at this point her typing hasn't quite settled. Her fire's not even quite there and it's the first one to manifest.

Second, she's also suffering at this point from a bit of fluctuation with her genes. Since as her character image shows she's not a pure houndour. So her Dark typing is warring with a potential electric typing. Which will sort itself out over the course of the next few chapters.

Third, character development needs to happen, so I had to keep that scene.


	5. Chapter 5

Coming to is once again rather painful. Her head's swimming and there's a weird taste in her mouth. On top of both those sensations everything in her body is screaming, and she jerks with the aftershocks of whatever happened. Obi and Daniel are clearly not much better, Obi's fur is even smoking. The only member of the group who seems unaffected is the rattata. He at least has the decency to look sheepish about it.

"Sorry..." he says running a paw over the back of his head. "I'm still not quite the best with thunderbolt!" That was a thunderbolt?! She blinks and twitches trying to sit up. Obi growls something that she doesn't quite catch but already wholeheartedly agrees with just based on the tone. Daniel groans and rolls over looking up at the rattata with half glazed eyes.

Hybrid pushes herself up and glares at the rodent Pokéuman who shrugs before wrapping his tail around himself and looking at all three of them. Obi growls as she gets to all fours and walks over to stand by her. Daniel grumbles something and pushes himself up into a seated position before shaking himself out.

"You call that a thunderbolt, it was more like a discharge..." he mutters and she blinks before nodding. It's that moment that it registers, echoed in the back of her head by the other voice.

'{Do we even know his name yet?}'

"Hey! We don't know your name!" she actually points at him as she speaks and the rattata boy snorts closing his grey eyes. Daniel blinks and looks at her before the sentence seems to click in his head. He opens his mouth, pauses and snaps it shut before glaring at the rodent. "So... who are you?"

"Ronan... You can call me Ronan!" he says holding out a paw to them. Obi snorts from beside her and Daniel rolls his eyes.

"Yes well, I'm Daniel, that's Tamara-"

"Hybrid!"

"Hybrid... and the dog's just along for the ride." he continues despite her interruption and she feels her ears both twitch in annoyance at his words. At his dismissal of Obi who doesn't really seem to care one way or the other. Which makes her relax and calm down.

Ronan on the other hand rolls his eyes, stands up and walks off into the darkness. In fact she realizes looking around it's much darker now than it was before. She stands up, and almost topples over since her feet feel much different to how they should. Swapping her stance so she's on the balls of her feet helps.

It still feels weird, but less so. Looking down she can't see any reason for the weirdness, but that might be since she's still wearing her sneakers. Either way she huffs and walks until she finds a window. She has to reach up and hoist herself up to even peer out of it. Obi follows her and stands guard ready to catch her should she fall.

As it is though she's too busy staring.

'{What is this place? It's not familiar at all...}' the voice echoes her thoughts, there's trees, a pine forest and a lake with ripples that spread as she watches. Green bright green grass and a moon stands watch over head. But the thing is, there's nothing to tell her where exactly they are. Daniel trots into the hall behind her and she turns to face him.

"We'll be staying here for the next four days. Three of them so you can finish your transformation." She's about to ask but he holds up a paw stopping her "The last so we can actually figure out how we're going to get to the Roamers Association Meeting." She blinks and mouths a small Oh before looking out the window once more. Before snapping her head back around and asking.

"Wait three for my transformation?" Daniel bewildered nods his head and she sort of slumps. That means that she missed a day. She missed a day of her transformation. An entire day, then again it might have just been lost in the confusion.

After all there was the thing with the Gardevoir and then they were all attacked by some idiots. Also Ronan's uncontrolled thunderbolt. She grimaces and the voice in the back of her head bursts into laughter at her thoughts.

'{Sure was shocking wasn't it!}' they laugh before falling back into silence. The pun is in rather bad taste though and she grimaces, both at the memory and the pun. And she blinks, before looking around. Nobody else is in the hall, aside from Daniel but he's used to her weirdness. Everyone from the school would be. Wandering around with her head in the clouds…

Talking to people who aren't there.

Fighting monsters that aren't there.

She takes a deep breath and narrows her eyes. Hands curling into fists and she closes her eyes. Ears perk up, and twitch once. A twitch of the nose as she sniffs and she thinks.

' _Who are you? Where are you?'_

'{Finally you catch on!}' the voice huffs at her before growling something that she doesn't quite catch. Which is weird if they're apparently inside of her head. '{I don't care, you're just a weak little idiot anyway!}' the voice shouts.

' _You… you didn't answer-'_ She cuts herself off, startled by some distant noise. Her eyes snap open and her head whips around to see… Obi. The dog has the decency to look sheepish at least for surprising her. "Obi… what is it?" she decides to ask instead of getting mad or anything. The dog's tail wags and she grins at her.

"[Prepare… Practice.]" Straightening eyes that narrow and feel like they're looking right through her. "[Pack safety first. Information important!]" Obi growls and she actually feels herself backing away slightly, there's a sense of shock and confusion and faint fear in the back of her head. "[Move set, types and check the chart... fairies lurk...]"

"Fairies..?" she asks blankly and distantly she's able to hear the voice swearing. It takes only a little moment longer for it to click and she grimaces. "Right... Dark type... but Fire resists... so I should be okay?" she actually frowns.

"[Still prepare, find moves. Confirm, and control. Harmonize!]" is the canine actually suggesting what she thinks that they are. "[Harmonize!]"

"Meditation?" she says completely blankly.

'{Are you kidding me?!}' the voice practically howls in the back of her head. '{Meditation is fucking bullshit! That won't do anything!}'

She completely agrees with the voice but doesn't say anything as her canine companion sharply grins. Eyes slightly narrowing and tail beginning to wave from one side to the other. 0bi abruptly spins around and her eyes follow. Left, right, left, right...

Blink...

A yawn.

Why's she suddenly so tired?

Another yawn, and eyes droop.

'{So much... so much bullshit...}'

She can't help it, it wouldn't hurt to close her eyes for just a little while would it? Slowly they sink shut fully and her physical body sinks down to the ground.

* * *

Colours swirled over her head. A bright citron green and dark crimson red. The colours pulsed, ebbed and flowed and she found herself looking up with wide eyes. Before she looked down at herself. She raised her two front paws, patting her brown muzzle, and running them over the yellow partial skull on her head. She felt a swish from behind her and turned just enough to she a blue tail with a yellow star on the end.

That didn't seem right.

She crouched and spun around, managing to see that yes, her hind was blue. That was definitely not right. Not for a houndour.

"Don't worry about it!" the voice came from the left, she jumped before looking over. It was a cyndaquil, with inverse colours. "I'm pretty sure you double triggered..." they rolled their eyes before sighing. "The rest of us... well we got the leftover genes?"

"The what?"

"The missed possibilities!" They growled, and that was when she noticed something else. Stumbling back in recoil she barred her teeth at _him_ yes, him!

"What the hell... you're a boy!" the cyndaquil blinked before snorting and rolling his eyes.

"Yeah... took you long enough _Hybrid_ " the way he almost sing-songed her name was so obviously a tease that she bristled, but at the same time, it was a boy, in her head... and she was a girl... mostly. "Anyway aside from that I don't know where the others are right now... probably sorting out their own issues..."

"Okay..? And who're the others?"

"Honestly, I don't know... and I don't care." he said before turning to walk away. "It's not like that matters right now anyway. Just do what you're here to do then get back to the real world!"

"Real world? You mean..." He snorted and a puff of smoke drifted up into the air. She frowned and an ear twitched before she looked around. Back up at the shifting sky and finally back at him. "But aren't you real as well?" The boy simply sighed and shook his head before walking away.

"Not exactly..." his voice echoed back to her, she blinked and he was gone. A small confused sound left her before the surroundings shifted and she was falling. Ice and broken shards of ground, before she landed on a slide. Round and round as she went further down eventually coming to a stop on a patch of grass at the bottom.

She shook herself off before standing back up and coming face to face with herself in a mirror. Black fur, shark tooth still around her neck, four metallic links around her ankles, yellow half skull, two golden bands, the blue hind half and the star at the tip of her tail. At least her eyes were the same, a shifting hazel.

As she watched though the reflection grinned, backed away and lightning glowed blue around it. Racing forwards hitting something, _Spark_.

Next flames blazed for a moment in the reflections mouth before it looked away took a deep breath and blew a stream of embers at something, _Ember_.

Curling up into a ball the reflection once more charged towards the surface of the mirror, _Rollout_.

And finally they bounced away before flames spun around them and they spun forwards right towards her, _Flame Wheel_.

The mirror burnt away in flames and her reflection seemed to give her one last grin before leaving. She had a move set now though. While she was still transforming it wasn't going to be very useful though. She frowned pensively, considering the cyndaquil.

What could he have possibly meant by the fact that he didn't exist. She had been able to see him, to speak to him, how could he not be real?

"But how... How can he not be real?" she muttered to herself, before both of her ears flickered. She crouched instinctively as the sky shattered. Abruptly she was pulled up, flying off into the sky.

* * *

Eyes snap open to stare blankly up at the roof. At the panels overhead, and she closes them again, taking a deep breath. Holding it for merely a moment before blowing it out. Opening her eyes again she looks down at her hands, creeping black fur, fingers just beginning to meld together. And her shoes just feel wrong. She tugs them off to see fully formed blue covered paws.

"Double trigger..." her voice is soft, quiet. She's more than aware of those around her still sleeping. Aside from her new paws, and the fur there's also a weight on her back and raising a paw it's hard on her head. Helmet, skull, cap already firming up itself. Crossing her eyes the tip of her nose is beginning to darken as well. "Houndour... and what though?"

Also her posture feels weird. She straightens and she can kind of feel a strangeness in the way her legs are. Slowly she walks, and finds a mirror.

"My posture is Meowth's..." she blinks and frowns, her clothing still feels weird... Especially her pants, probably because they're swamping her legs. She grumbles a bit before pulling them off and throwing them to the side... To her relief it's all fur. In fact the fur is already creeping up her belly a bit... She'll keep her shirt. Shaking her head she returns to the mirror, it looks incredibly odd honestly.

A pair of black ears, with creeping fur down her face, the yellow cap half-formed, light smattering of black on her slightly pointier nose, mostly furless arms aside the hands and bracelets, and the cartoon meowth posture for her blue covered legs. Also, her T-Shirt looks a bit like a short dress if she's been honest.

An incredibly short dress.

"Oh modesty... what happened to you?" she mutters grimacing. Before rapidly shaking her head. How much more of the transformation... the rest of her visible skin, and she has yet to gain her tail... That's not actually all that much.

That must make today, if there is a today the sixth day... The second last day of her transformation. There really isn't that much more to go. Some small part of her is deep in awe, a larger part is stuttering in terror and fear at her imminent life change. The loss of her humanity, and she's already lost pieces of herself...

That's...

Oh.

The realization hits her like a freight train and she slams down into a seated position.

Pieces of herself. That's what the cyndaquil is... He's a part of her that's been fractured and torn away given a life and soul of it's own.

 _We're... Fractured_

The significance of the statement is only realized in hindsight. It aches and it tears and the worst part is she still doesn't quite know what she's lost. What they have, what the _others_ that he mentioned might have. Or if she's still got those pieces, but minimized.

'{Now you fucking notice...}' his voice grumbles and she sucks in a breath. '{Well... what are you going to do about it? Are you going to try and reintegrate us... or... keep us like this?}'


	6. Chapter 6

The last few days of her transformation are spent pondering the question. What would she do? What could she do? They were apparently part of her, bits and pieces that had fractured and split off within her forming their own identity. The question now is... what should she do?

The obvious answer would be to reintegrate them back into herself, yet she hesitates. Looking at black covered paws, and twitching her new ears, allowing her tongue to trace fangs that filled out her muzzle... and she knows that they're different.

The one she's met is a cyndaquil. Which's a far cry from the creature that she sees in the mirror. They're both small, but she is more canine with pointy ears, and a hard covering over the top of her head almost like the cranium piece of a skull. Shiny cuffs of glinting gold around each of her paws, two braces over her back. The division where black becomes blue and the star point tail. It's a far cry from the fire shrew that a cyndaquil reminds her of.

And... that means something.

What exactly it means she's not sure. But it's one of the biggest reasons that she pushes away the question.

 _What are you going to do about it?_

 _Ignore it_ , she's not doing anything about it. Instead resorting to the tried and true method of procrastination. So she wanders soon locating the boys, _her boys_. And of course Obi who's lying happily in a beam of sunlight from a hole in the roof.

"Hey, look who's finished transforming!" Daniel cheerfully calls out upon seeing her before refocusing on the rattata across from him. "Good... because you're going to be practicing next!" he bares his teeth and Ronan grins in place before they both race forwards.

Sparks flicker around Ronan, and she can feel her fur stand on end. Flopping down beside Obi she decides to simply wait and watch. Thunderbolts slice through the air and Daniel races around just barely keeping ahead of the lightning. And he dives, jaws snapping down and onto Ronan, who twists, and almost gets away.

Only Daniel's jaws close on the rodent Pokéuman's tail. Bright light fills the air, a point blank thunderbolt in response and both participants are sent flying. Daniel twists around in the air and manages to land on his four paws while Ronan slams into the wall and hits the ground hard. He shakes his head and immediately goes underground.

Daniel howls, once, twice, before shooting to the side just as Ronan remerges, a ball of shadows glows at Ronan's tail and his grey eyes narrow as he spins around hurtling it towards the poochyena.

"Sorry but not today!" Daniel howls again before leaping through the shadow ball and snapping his jaws down onto Ronan again. Ronan squeaks before initiating a Quick Attack and dragging the poochyena along with him, abruptly halts digging into the ground and sending the dark canine straight into the far wall. Emerging on the other side of their field he leaps into the air gathering yet another Shadow Ball at the tip of his tail.

"Dodge this!" Ronan screams and Hybrid allows her ears to perk up as Daniel is hit head on and sent straight back into the wall. The small purple rodent lands easily on the field and Daniel shakes his head.

Teeth flash in a doggy grin and Daniel blurs. Slamming into Ronan's side with a Tackle that sends the smaller Pokéuman flying.

"Whoa... I'm feeling pretty _Rattled_." Daniel states shaking his head before howling again. He squares his feet and bares his teeth.

"Rattled... Hey that's..."

"[Improvement. Practice makes perfect!]" Hybrid sighs at the canine's interruption and returns her attention to the battle just in time to see Ronan leap out of the ground and slam into Daniel's side. Knocking the Poochyena out of the running, and straight into dream land.

"Okay, that was harder than yesterday... He's improving." Ronan says panting before looking over to the hybrid and narrowing his eyes. "Since you've finally finished transforming you should practice as well..." He flashes a grin with a certain glint in his eyes and she rolls her own before nodding. Trotting out onto what serves as the field Daniel picks himself up and shakes off the dust. The poochyena trots off and slumps down by Obi while she takes her place opposite Ronan.

How best to start?

Something simple. Something easy. Something that she's used before.

Fire flares and blazes in her mouth as she blows out the stream of embers straight at the rattata across from her. He doesn't even bother dodging, mainly because they didn't even get close to him. Instead falling short. She pants as the stream slows down and actually whines upon seeing just how far short they fell.

Oh well, that's why they're practicing isn't it. Growling she races forwards, and... her teeth feel like they're sharpening, hardening and she can feel the power gathering in her jaws as she leaps at Ronan. Jaws snap shut around his tail as he's just a moment too slow with his dodge and... It's amazing the strength that she can feel in her jaws(and his tail since it doesn't break under the force). He lashes out pulling the same Quick Attack, Dig trick off, but unlike Daniel she lets go sooner and scrambles.

Small blue electric sparks dance through her fur and she winces at the faint backlash from them, before shaking her head and instead trying something else. A dark sort of shadowy feeling, energy that gathers in a literal ball of darkness at her jaws, before she sort of tosses it down. And the darkness shoots out in a wave pulse around them hitting Ronan just as he remerges from the ground, dissipating and bursting his shadow ball.

It's amazing impressive and she's stunned.

So that's a Dark Pulse, there's no way she's going to be giving up that move any time soon. Racing forwards she can feel the burn at the back of her mouth, gathering embers that she flings towards Ronan who easily dodges them. Using Quick Attack to dodge before slamming into her and sending her back across the field.

Shadow Ball followed by lightning the she's just not expecting and she's slammed into the wall.

Slightly dazed she gets back up and rapidly shakes her head. Growling she flings herself back out there and races across the field. Blue electricity curls around her and... Ronan ducks to the side allowing her to slam right into the wall and knock herself right into the darkness of her own mind.

* * *

"Nice job genius..." the voice was sarcastic and familiar. Her eyes slowly cracked open to see the familiar unimpressed inverted cyndaquil from earlier. "You knocked yourself silly... And just made us look stupid because we're you... Oh and it took you long enough to fucking realize that..." he sounded cross, annoyed and just generally grumpy all at once.

She sighed and pushed herself up and he spun around growling at her.

"It's a good thing that the genetic fluctuation is currently stable you know!"

"T-The what?" she frowned at the statement and he huffed spitting a mouthful of embers at her. She flinched momentarily before brushing them away. They disappeared before even hitting the shifting ground of this strange place.

"Genetic Fluctuation... like an Eevee's. It enables their adaption, so that they can evolve the way that they do... and it's what allowed us to transform... also how many science books and documentaries have you read... because damn, Jane keeps lecturing the rest of us over them..." he grumbled before walking around her and glaring. "The point is though something is off with our flux point." he rolled his eyes "At least according to Jane-"

"Who's Jane?" Hybrid cut him off and he growled whacking her with one of his stubby cyndaquil arms.

"Pay _Attention_ damn it!" she flattered her ears and backed down a bit as his back flared with flames. "Anyway... as Jane believes our flux point is a bit low... or high... I dunno I kind of tuned her out but anyway... Our flux point is off because we're all in the same body but representing different..."

"And that means what exactly?" Hybrid asked and the cyndaquil shrugged.

"I don't fucking know..." he said before looking away. "But uh... the theory is that trading between us would trigger a speed change between genetics... kind of like an evolution..."

"But it compromises our stability doesn't it..." the realization dawned slowly. "Our genetics are unstable because they're partially linked to how we... view ourselves..." He tentatively nodded and she sat down. It was a fair bit to take in. But still. "Okay, now will you tell me who Jane is?"

"Nah, because you'll meet her for yourself eventually... but currently I seem to be the nominated voice! Don't know why..." he grumbled before sniffing. "Anyway, Jane asked me to ask permission to test the genetic swap theory... so... can I take control?"

"That..." she hesitated as she stared into his pleading wide red eyes. "I'm sorry... but it doesn't seem like it would be a good idea..."

"Eh, worth a try though!" he shrugged before he turned and stalked away. "I'll go find one of the others, send them to deal with you..." he shouted back to her and she tilted her head watching as he left. That... that was not what she'd expected at all.

Slowly she stood back up and walked around Only for the ground to collapse out from under her and send her sliding down. She bounced a bit as the slide went back up and around more like a roller coaster before finally kicking her out into what seemed to be a library. Walking around she could see a picture on the far wall.

She moved slowly through the sea of books before she slowed able to see more of the picture... and... It was them? Maybe, her and the cyndaquil at least, and the other images were fuzzy, blurred out and indistinct... She stoped and tilted her head up the picture. It seemed important, like the library around her. Yet... she couldn't place either of them. With a sigh she puffed out some small embers that disappeared as quickly as she conjured them.

This was her mental space, her head, her mind. Yet there were others.

Which probably meant that they each had their own spaces. Their own specific areas... And... she frowned looking around the library again. Static computers, shelves and shelves of books, a bed... she stopped and looked back at the bed confused before shrugging and continuing. Plain walls aside the group painting, and soft fuzzy carpet beneath her paws. She still couldn't place it though, that was a lost cause.

But... this was definitely her area, her space.

Abruptly she felt incredibly tired. Like the weight of the world was pressing down on top of her. Every limb heavy and she struggled to keep her eyes open. Since this was her space she didn't mind curling up, eyes drooping. And... She slept.

* * *

She's awoken by a string of curses and an explosion. She's on her feet before she even registers it and racing down the halls, pulling her pack on and leaping to the side of a blast of water. It's Pokextinction, of course.

"What happened?" she shouts fighting to be heard over the jet blasts of water. "How did they find us this fast?" just after she finishes transforming in fact. It's suspicious.

"Don't worry about that!" Daniel howls boosting his fighting spirit before he slams right into a mudkip and sends it flying into a group of water type pokéumans in a weird mockery of bowling. "Just worry about finding a way out!"

"SPARK!" Hybrid shouts realizing what she can do. Daniel gives her a weird look just before Ronan races in with Obi right on his heels. The rattata has dancing electricity around him and she leaps back allowing the blue glow to surround her. And she dashes right through the water pokémon not pausing for anything until she's on the other side. She leaps, twisting around in the air. Taking a deep breath she rains ember down on whoever remains.

"[Dig! Tackle!]" Obi barks disappearing and reappearing as fast as she barks. "[BITE!]" There's a howl of pain from one of the uniformed grunts and Hybrid narrows her eyes flattening her ears against her head and growling before barking out a command.

"Obi disengage! I'm about to try something..." and she hopes that it'll work as she feels the heat at the back of her throat, the energy that gathers. And... "Dark Flare!" Embers spread out caught in the pulse and there's screaming, cursing and Daniel nips her tail to catch her attention.

They quickly flee through an apparent hidden passageway and don't dare pause even after they exit.

Eventually they do slow down, but only because they're starting to get tired and because Obi is complaining about being hungry. Sighing Hybrid slumps down and watches her canine companion poke at the can of dog food that she can't be bothered opening.

"So..." eventually Daniel speaks up his ears kind of flopping over his face. "Now we just make our way to the meeting location... and wait I guess."

"Will there even be anyone there?" Hybrid asks raising her head from her paws. Her eyes don't leave the form of their newest member though. She refuses to take her eyes off of the rattata with the grey eyes. _There's just something wrong about him_. Oh she knows that people can naturally have grey eyes... it's jut that something is off about it.

Something that's niggling and niggling at her, but she just can't quite catch the thought.

'{Grey eyes? Grey... Something about grey!}' the new voice almost startles her, and that's the moment that Ronan looks up and chooses to answer the question.

"Of course, if not Mischief, then Hannah will be there!" Those names mean nothing to her. So she sighs and plops her head back down. "We should rest for the night... we'll set off again after daybreak..."


	7. Chapter 7

They move slowly, even after setting out just as the Dawn breaks. It's slow going, both due to their size, the distance that they need to travel and... the height of the grass relative to them. They can only listen to the cars in the distance and vainly hope that in some way they are heading in the right direction. Not that any of them really mind. The only one grumbling is Tammy, and the figment of a cyndaquil can only be heard by one member of the group.

"So..." Hybrid begins when they all finally take a break. "What is this Roamers Association anyway?" she tilts her head and Daniel's ears perk up just slightly as Ronan looks over. The purple rodent takes a deep breath, before huffing it out and his gaze drifts up to the star filled sky.

"It's... hard to explain." he begins, before looking between the two recent transformees. "It's kind of in the very middle, between Pokextinction... and Pokéumans. It was originally formed by those who slipped through the cracks, or left, or... well it grew. More and more people got picked up, all around the world and they just remained apart."

"Those who delivered specialty items, those who hunted for evolutionary items, people who were just filled with wanderlust... all of them. They all make up the group that's known by both sides as the Roamers... and well, within this group are separate sections, for the Rogues, the Vigilantes, those who just choose to remain Unaffiliated... and then what you two currently count as... Missed Transformees..."

"As for the association..." he trails off for a moment and closes his eyes. "At some point it became necessary for each of the various groups of Roamers to meet together. Trading information and news, sharing their travels and arranging for deliveries to various bases. On _both_ sides. Because, as I mentioned... they're in the middle, somewhere between both sides... And it became a thing..."

"The Roamers Association..."

"At each meeting there is a strict rule of no violence, although there is still the tournament. Highly anticipated, and greatly celebrated, it's the event that draws so many, a break from travelling. A chance to show off. And that's where we're heading. To this year's tournament... oh sure, everyone meets at other times throughout the year, but the Tournament happens once a year, and each year it's somewhere else..." He shakes his head before yawning. "Anyway... we should get some sleep... we've still got some distance to travel if we wish to get there with time to spare..."

"Right!" Daniel says, lifting his head before looking over at Hybrid. "Good Night Hybrid..." the poochyena says with a smile before curling in on himself and quickly drifting off. The hybrid pokéuman doesn't respond, instead her hazel eyes remain trained on the rattata. Before she allows them to drift over to her other canine companion.

Obi. She shifts, getting all four of her paws beneath her before softly padding over to the canine.

"Obi..." she whispers, and the dog lifts her head to look at her. "That didn't answer everything... it still doesn't explain why... Why did Mr. B know what was going on... the wall of students..." she lowers her head, and her ears flicker. "I just... I just don't know Obi..."

"[Worry no!]" Obi huffs out a breath of air, rolling over and yawning widely. "[All make sense future...]"

"I suppose..." Hybrid says looking back over towards the boys. "But still... I just get the feeling that there is something important that we're missing... that he's hiding..." she yawns, lowering her head, snuggling just subtly into her companions side. "But... I'll trust you..." She says before allowing her eyes to slip shut.

Across the clearing, Ronan's eyes snap open, glowing faintly with a grey sheen...

* * *

It's the light of the sunrise that wakes them the next morning. Alongside the laughter of some kookaburras. It's met with groaning, and grumbling. Hybrid is the first to eventually stir though, alongside Obi, who's already up with her tongue lolling out.

"Stupid sun..." Hybrid mutters shaking her head rapidly before taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air, the sweet scent of a morning's dew with the frost still settled over the grass. "Wow..." she breathes out before taking another deeper breath. Filling her head with the scent of the morning. One ear twitches slightly and she turns just enough to see Daniel twitch before he rolls over and continues to sleep.

Ronan yawns, blinking his grey eyes open and her ears twitch again. Slowly the rodent pokémon stirs and he stretches his legs before looking around.

"You're already awake Hybrid?" he sounds surprised and she simply smiles.

"Yep!" she says before standing up, her tail swishing behind her. She looks over at the still stubornly sleeping poochyena before looking at Obi who simply continues to give a doggy grin. "Bright and early!"

'{Which is a far cry from how it used to be!}' Tammy screams in her head, sounding incredibly put out before sighing. '{I wonder why... normally waking up is the hardest thing for us!}' dutifully Hybrid ignores him and he grumbles something before fading back into the background.

"So who's going to wake Daniel... or will we practice for a bit first?" Hybrid asks, absently scratching an itch up behind her ear as she spoke. Ronan sniffs the air, before turning his head first in one direction then the other. Hybrid pauses, narrowing her eyes as his ears flicker and he gets up on his hind legs to peer around. "What's... what's wrong?"

"[Something... something is coming!]" Obi growls, fur bristling. Hybrid shifts, raising her head up, opening her mouth to taste the scents in the air. As far as she can tell there's nothing, but both Ronan and Obi are on edge. So with a weird shrug she trots over to Daniel, who's rolled over onto his back, his mouth open.

"Daniel!" she calls with a smile. Only to receive absolutely no response. A small sigh and quick roll of the eyes. "Daniel!" a bit louder this time. Still nothing. "Okay... fine. DANIEL!" The dark type finally responds cracking open one eye, before yawning and rolling over.

"What is it?" he asks rubbing one paw awkwardly over his eyes and looking around. "What time is it?"

"You have a watch!" Hybrid grumps before flickering her ears and tilting her head. Raising her nose she takes another sniff, nothing and yet. She stiffens, her ears perking up, and she growls. "Downwind... that's why..."

"What's downwind?"

"[Company! Not friend!]"

"Pokextinction!" Hybrid and Ronan both say in synch. Startling Daniel swiftly pulls himself to his feet his own ears sticking right up and his fur on end.

"Before breakfast! Really?" he says tail curling. Obi growls and Hybrid bares her teeth. "Okay..." he says, before raising his head. He takes a deep breath and for just a moment his eyes both glow. "Yep... it's them... And they're right in the direction we should be heading!" he growls. Hybrid barely gives him a side glance before she lowers her ears and snarls.

'{Don't just charge in there! THAT'S MY JOB!}' Tammy shouts in her head before he abruptly quiets down. She merely gives her eyes a small roll before crouching down alongside Daniel. A bright light sweeps out overhead and Daniel mutters from her side while Obi growls. Tammy howls in her head once it finishes its initial sweep.

Instead of dignifying his nonsense with a response she inches herself forwards. Her belly dragging in the dirt as she twitches her ears and sniffs the air.

"Well..." she says giving a side glance. "I suppose it's make it or break it..."

"Right!" Daniel says. "One, two... And now!" Ronan doesn't have a chance to argue as both of the newest pokéumans race off, kicking up a bit of dust. The canine races beside them, keeping up. And it's close. So close, just at the light makes another sweep they make it across the gap. Laughing Hybrid skids to a stop her tail waving in the air. Daniel smiles, trotting in place with a smirk winding across his muzzle.

"Well!" Hybrid rolls over in the grass. "That's done! Right..." she looks at Daniel who frowns shaking his head. "Yeah..." she agrees huffing out a breath. "They'll just keep searching. Until someone on either side finds us. I suppose..."

"Ronan can catch up!" Daniel says standing on all four of his feet and sniffing the air. Hybrid blinks before looking around for the small purple rodent. "Don't worry, the phones have GPS on them..." he says, before turning and continuing to walk. "Besides... I know the location!" he says and Hybrid tilts her head, momentarily glancing back before simply trotting off after the poochyena.

"If you say so..." she frowns, while Obi gives a small bit of a doggy laugh from beside her. With one more puff she shakes her head.

After maybe an hour or so of walking through fields of nothing but grass they end up stopping. For a relatively late breakfast. Or really it's right on time, probably. But Hybrid doesn't really care about that as she wiggles her pack off and scrounges around for her Lunch Pack within. It's stocked with enough for the journey. Or it should be. She sits back once she finds it while Obi lounges nearby and Daniel keeps seeking his own.

Clicking the small pack open Hybrid sniffs the contents.

Strange berries. Familiar berries, but not.

"Pecha, Oran, Figy... Mago... And others..." she mutters, sorting through them. "Aspear, Sitrus... Hmm..." Abruptly she spots a Rawst berry and amused rolls it beneath her paw and smiles. The one for healing burns. She peers over at Daniel who's already munching before sighing and flipping the berry up into the air catching it in her mouth.

"Don't play with your food!" Daniel grumbles while Obi barks out a laugh. Hybrid merely rolls her eyes before snacking on a few more berries, and some of the biscuits in her pack before packing it all back away. With a small yawn she takes a deep breath before pushing herself up. Just enough to awkwardly stand on her hind legs.

"What're you doing?" Daniel asks when she wobbles.

Stubbornly Hybrid maintains her position before peering around. Finally losing her balance she tumbles back into the grass and grumbles nonsense into the dirt before lifting her head and meeting an unimpressed Daniel's gaze.

"If Meowth could teach himself to walk on two legs when his species naturally doesn't... then so can others!" She says, before shaking her head. "If only for an emergency situation..."

"But all meowth are upright on two legs..."

"Wrong! meowth, don't naturally walk on two legs. At least not originally, in the original series wild meowth and most tame-ish ones walked on all fours. This was proven by the episode with the pre-schoolers, Mewtwos Clonemon and well..." she trails off before shaking her head. "Anyway, the point is that sort of faded away as the series went on, though in HeartGold and SoulSilver when you had a meowth following you, it would of course, be on all fours!"

"True..." Daniel says sounding a fair bit amused and Hybrid feels a small bit of heat under her fur before she rapidly shakes her head.

"Anyway... if meowth could learn..." she swallows. "Why couldn't other pokémon?"

"Because then it probably wouldn't be as special..." Daniel says with a weird shrug before he lifts his head into the air and sniffs. "Seems clear!" Hybrid huffs as Daniel turns to her. Arching one brow. "Come on... Let's keep moving."

"Right, right..."

The rest of the day mostly passed in silence. Except for the distant rumble of cars, and the rustling of the grass. Obi's happy barking and excited exclamations about what's going on. It's peaceful enough. But there's something about it. Something about the peace that puts her just slightly on edge and she keeps looking around.

Expecting something.

'{I found it! Grey eyes!}' Jolting in surprise at the familiar but still new voice, Hybrid momentarily pauses with one paw in the air. '{Pokextinction, grey eyes are a mark of Pokextinction brainwashing!}'

"Brainwashing!"

"What?" Daniel spins around as Hybrid shakes her head rapidly.

"There it is again..." Hybrid says and the new voice lets out a small laugh, before she frowns. "Grey eyes... Grey... oh!"

"Hybrid?" she turns to a weary Daniel with wide eyes.

"That was one of the indicators... in the stories from that group on Deviantart that I was talking about! Grey eyes... they were a small give away to a Pokextinction agent!" yet she furrows her brow and looks back. "Yet still... that doesn't seem quite right..."

'{No... it doesn't... there is something else, that we're missing... Oh!}' Hybrid blinks frowning. '{I'll let Tammy take over again... I need to do some more reading...}' the voice fades and Hybrid can almost feel a shift.

'{Well that solved nothing...}' Tammy grumbles. Hybrid rolls her eyes before looking at Daniel who's frowning. Clearly thinking about the information she's revealed.

"Well..." he frowns, tilting his head. "Nothing we can do about that information now..." he shakes his head. "Let's just keep moving... we'll probably make it to the Roamer's Association in just the next few days if we keep pace..."

"I suppose so..." Hybrid says, feeling her ears drop.

"Don't worry... I doubt that Mr. B would leave us in the hands of someone dangerous!" Daniel smiles and despite his assuredness Hybrid just doesn't know...


	8. Chapter 8

"Okay... so now where do we go?" Hybrid asks, with a small yawn. It feels like they've been walking down endless streets for hours. She has no idea exactly where they are, and she highly doubts that Daniel knows either. Despite the fact that he keeps saying that it'll be just around the next corner. "We're lost..." she says, as Tammy laughs in the back of her head. Daniel's ears flicker and he gives a small glance back, but refuses to say anything.

She sighs shaking her head. Before sitting down stubbornly. Her tail curling around while Obi pants beside her. She gives a small glance to her companion before blowing out a couple of embers. Ahead of her Daniel stops, his tail quivering and ears swiveling. Eventually he turns around and seats himself. Sighing he shakes his head.

Before lowering it down onto his paws. He closes his eyes and Hybrid softens just a little bit. Raising her head up to look at the distant clouds that she can see up in the sky. Closing her eyes she takes a deep breath before blowing it out. Shaking her head she stands up on all fours. Her eyes narrowing and she huffs out another small stream of embers.

She slides her pack off and searches through it. Before rolling out one of the cans of dog food. It's late enough.

"Might as well camp here!" she says looking over at Daniel who watches with empty eyes. "It's getting late... and we're out of sight... well immediate sight!" she explains and he sits up. He slowly nods his head and Hybrid returns her focus to the can. Before she huffs and uses one of her fangs to open it. Not the traditional use for them but it works. As soon as it's open she slides the can over to Obi who gives an appreciative bark before chowing down.

"I'm sorry..." Daniel says when Hybrid offers him some of the berries that she's carrying.

"Don't worry about it!" she says with a small smile. "We'll get there eventually, there's still time. We still have supplies!" she says, before pulling out her own IPhone and narrowing her eyes at it. "And... there's this app here..." she adds and he peers over her shoulder as she gently taps on the app in question, _Talking Pikachu_. "Pokéuman Power!"

The Pikachu on the app happily screams its name before the app slides away and a small blinking icon appears on a map. With a small smile Hybrid looks at Daniel who stares at her with wide eyes. She lets out a small chuckle before shaking her head.

"I was messing around with it!" she explains answering his unasked question. "Anyway, from here I think that it's just a matter of..."

A nearby crash and the screech of a cat cuts her off and she whips her head around. Daniel follows her gaze as a pretty calico cat stalks around the corner hissing all the way.

"[Stupid fire _lizard_!]" they hiss stalking past. And both of the Pokéumans allow their gaze to follow the cat. Daniel with confusion and Hybrid with narrow eyes. Before she hops up on all four paws and trots after the cat. Obi barks at her but she ignores the canine.

"Hey! Hey you cat!"

"[Stupid hound!]" the cat hisses tail flicking up in the air behind them. Before the feline moves, and momentarily startled Hybrid falters. Almost tripping over her paws, before she growls and launches herself forwards.

"Hey wait! I need to ask you something!" Hybrid howls, huffing as the ground passes beneath her feet. It's a somewhat merry chase that the feline leads them on. Racing around until Hybrid finally slows and stops panting. Ears lowering to the side. "Well... bye..." She turns around only to freeze.

'{Look at the mess you made, you impulsive idiot!}' Tammy's voice in her head makes her wince. '{Now what! You won't be able to just turn a corner and-}'

"[Fine! Stubborn stupid canine!]" the cat jumps back down and lands in front of her cutting off Tammy's tirade. "[What do you want?]"

"You said something about a stupid fire lizard right?" the cat huffs, tail twitching before it gives what could be a nod. "Where! Me and my friends... we're looking for..."

"[Follow me! Stupid hound!]"

Hybrid perks up and trots after the calico. The cat meows under its breath all the way, and they only deviate to pick up Daniel and Obi on their way by. Hybrid beams, entirely too proud of herself as they follow the annoyed cat. Who eventually stops by a seemingly blank wall.

"[Here!]" they hiss before disappearing with nary the flicker of their tail tip. Hybrid stares at the wall alongside Daniel while Obi begins to bark after the cat. Hurtling insults, many of which Hybrid had never heard before. Probably because they sounded so... species specific.

"It's a dead end!"

"I can see that Daniel..." Hybrid tilts their head, before raising it into the air. "And yet..." Her ears twitch and her tail curls. She springs to her feet and there's a flash of something in her eyes. Daniel allows one his ears to twitch glancing towards her before looking back at the wall and narrowing his eyes. He takes a deep breath before standing up. His muzzle furrows up, lips pull back into a snarl and Hybrid blinks. "What... what is that?"

"[Blood...]" Obi barks and Hybrid gives the dog a single momentary glance before refocusing on the wall in front of them.

Hybrid's nose twitches and she recognizes the scent. The coppery tang of fresh blood, familiar from all the times that she'd hurt herself. But her eyes couldn't see anything to match the scent, there's only the wall in front of them. And yet, her ears lower as Daniel crouches beside her and she bares her teeth.

'{We got company...}'

"Incoming!" Hybrid snaps her head up, a heat already rising in her mouth and Daniel seems to flash in place for a moment. Almost seeming to be doubled before the effect fades and he snarls. Hybrid feels the heat rising in her mouth as the stranger moves and takes a deep breath at the same time that Daniel moves. Embers spew out as they come into view and Obi growls.

Before they can react the canine shoots forwards, the collar around her neck beeping and a strange glow forming around her teeth. The stranger, yelps, rolling under the canine and finally Hybrid gets a good look even as Daniel skids to a stop turning back around to glare.

Hybrid...

Doesn't know what kind of pokémon is in front of them. But to be fair, they never actually finished exploring the Kalos region, the newest one, so... but they didn't know, what this pokémon was. All they could really say was that it looked like cotton candy. Daniel snarls, before leaping again, his mouth wide this time, the same strange glow around his teeth.

The strange pokéuman jumps back flipping up and around narrowing their eyes. And they open their mouth and...

All three canines yelp and duck down. Hybrid moving her forepaws to cover her ears while Daniel moans and Obi barks in pain and annoyance. The stranger lands easily and smirks. Before sticking out their tongue and taking a deep breath.

Before they can use their next move though.

'{Switch out damnit! Please, Jane said-}'

"No!" Hybrid growls, forcing herself back to her feet, and glaring. "I refuse..."

'{Hybrid?}' Tammy honestly sounds worried by Hybrid doesn't care. She only snarls at the strange Pokémon that halts in its attack and simply smirks at her. Hybrid growls again, small sparks flowing around her body and Tammy falls quiet. There's a burning in her gaze, and she's just so furious.

"NO!"

'{Rivalry triggered!}' it's the second voice again, but Hybrid mostly ignores it. Only allowing her ears to twitch in response. '{Hybrid!}' electricity whines, and Hybrid takes a deep breath. Feeling the fire in the back of her throat as she races forwards. The strange pokémon blinks, surprised before laughing.

And leaps forwards, before racing to meet her.

"Your mistake..." Hybrid snarls spewing embers into the electricity and the strange pokémon has only a moment to react before they collide. Hybrid lands easily on all four paws while the stranger slams back into the wall and...

"They disappeared through it!"

"H-how?" Hybrid stumbles back momentarily thrown before she rapidly shakes her head and there's more laughter before someone else walks out. This person a perfectly normal houndour. Who looks relatively unimpressed by their actions.

"State your intentions!" the houndour snaps and Hybrid bristles. Fur standing on end, Daniel steps forwards before she can put her foot in it though.

"We're here to attend the Roamers Meeting, and the Tournament!"

"You going to enter?" the strange pokémon jumps out, landing easily on the houndour's back and peering at them. "Because that was... well something. I was impressed anyway!"

"We only just finished our transformations..." Daniel says with a sigh as Hybrid blinks. Obi shakes her head beside them and finally the boy straightens up. "Besides, we're just... here to figure out our options!"

"Really!"

"You could always still enter the beginners section..." the houndour says with a yawn, as if she's bored. "Always interesting to see new comers compete..." they shrug before standing up. "Anyway, might as well get you both settled in then... no escort?"

Daniel shook his head before Hybrid could even begin to open her mouth. Before she could explain. The houndour simply inclines her head, accepting it. Turning to lead them inside. The pokéuman on her back laughing cheerfully. And finally something seems to click within Hybrid's head... or rather.

'{Oh, it's a Swirlix!}' The other figment. The one who Hybrid still doesn't know, and she can hear Tammy snorting in the background. '{Strange, didn't we catch one a few days ago... huh, I mean we just boxed it, so I'm not surprised we forgot what it was but huh...}'

'{Well, it's also been a rapid paced few days... You know... You still should have switched though!}' Tammy grumbles and Hybrid remains silent, instead slowly padding after the houndour and swirlix in front of them. Daniel walking alongside her with his eyes closed, tail swinging happily from side to side and a grin on his muzzle. On her other side is Obi, walking with her own grin. '{We need to test that!}'

'{Oh yes! We do!}'

Hybrid huffs, rolling her eyes before focusing more on where they're going. And tuning out the figments speaking in her head. It was not something that they needed to test. Not in the least. And yet, it did make her curious, would they change, or wouldn't they? How much fluctuation was their genetics in? Now that the main transformation's over. Yet she's not willing to test it out, not unless she can know for sure that it'll be safe.

Not just for herself.

But for those around her. Because she still doesn't know what she's lost, what the figments have. What they are.

As they walk down metallic halls that all feel the same Hybrid thinks on things, and drifts in her thoughts. Not entirely paying attention to what's going on, until they stop. She looks forwards and the other houndour is sitting down. With a continual unimpressed look on her face. The swirlix is laughing again and the houndour rolls her eyes.

"Well, welcome! This is the mess hall..." The houndour says, before pushing open the door in front of them and...

Hybrid's mind momentarily blanks. There's no commentary from Tammy or the mysterious other either. There is just stunned awe at the state of the room. While not filled, not overflowing there are still quite a few pokémon, pokéumans. Hybrid can see a ditto, a couple of rattata, a pikachu sitting beside a raichu, drowzee, minccino, charmander, there's a couple of grimer off in one corner... and there's quite a few pokémon that Hybrid just can't name. It's not too many, but seeing them all in the one place.

"Wow..."

"You really are new..." the swirlix laughs before jumping down. "Anyway, there will be more people coming over the course of the next month or so... This obviously isn't everyone! I mean the Event officially begins April 3rd after all!" they grin before hopping away. Hybrid blinks before shaking her head.

"You should be good on your own now right?" the houndour says, focusing on something else. "Dorms are through the west door, washrooms the north... you'll find your way around..." and without waiting for a response they're off. Quickly disappearing into the throng of strangers. Leaving Daniel and Hybrid standing there with Obi sitting beside them.

"Right..." Hybrid looks at Daniel who returns the look before they simply resume staring out at the room.

'{Two introverts... nothing's going to happen... just sitting here...}' the second voice sounds so amused, and Hybrid's ears twitch. Before she stands up taking a deep breath. And she trots forwards, with a stubborn resolve. Daniel glances back at the door before following after her. Obi loyal as always follows, tail wagging happily.

All they need to do is find a quiet spot, and gather the courage to introduce themselves to someone.

It shouldn't take too much.

They've finally reached their destination after all.


	9. Chapter 9

Hybrid's wrong, _so, so wrong_. There is no way that any of them are going to be introducing themselves to anyone. It's not even that they don't have things in common, obvious things. Considering that they have all likely been through the transition, from human to pokéuman, but... it's just hard.

Hybrid has never been good in a crowd. Never been good at introducing herself to people. Well, at least not outside of very specific circumstances.

And this...

This isn't any of them. She is sitting beside Daniel, in a corner of an assembly hall filled with _pokémon_ of all things. It could be a dream come true, if not for what it means. What looms overhead. But as it is, Daniel is enough company. Along with her other companion, her _dog_. Obi. Who is also pretty fine with just sitting by them. Waiting. But she can tell that the canine is restless. Obi wants to meet people, pokéumans. With a sigh Hybrid lowers their head onto their paws and looks at the canine.

"Go on!" she says and the dog's ears flicker, before they bark happily with no words included. Racing off into the crowd she soon loses track of the canine. Now it's just her and Daniel. Two introverts sitting off in the corner.

At least it's interesting to watch everyone else. All the different pokéumans, some in forms that she's never seen before. Such as a black furred rattata talking to some kind of mongoose pokémon. There's a black lizard with lava-estique markings not too far away talking to a marowak with a _flaming bone club_. It's amazing. And beside her she can tell that Daniel is just as impressed, just as interested. Because these are pokémon that they've never seen, or forms of familiar pokémon that are just so different. So far removed from what they know.

It's a whole new world.

And with that thought they begin to snicker. Receiving a side glance full of questions from Daniel. Humming, Hybrid merely shakes her head before bursting into the song.

"It's a whole new world we live in... do do do da do doo!" she taps her paws grin spreading over her face. "It's a whole new place to see~ do do do da do doo! It's a whole new place, with a brand new attitude! But you still gotta catch 'em all!"

"POKÉMON JHOTO!"

"Everybody want to be a master!" She jumps up, landing on a table caught up in the song. "Everybody wants to show their skills! Everybody wants to get there faster! Make their way to the top of the hill!" she howls, before jumping down, and spinning in a circle.

"Each time you try, gonna get a little bit better!" she jumps up again, not paying attention to the way that more people had joined in. "Each step you climb! Is one more step up the ladder! It's a whole new world we live in! It's a whole new way to see! It's a whole new place, with a brand new attitude!

"But you still gotta catch 'em all! Be the Best that you can be!" Daniel chimes in with an amused smile.

"POKÉMON JHOTO!"

"Everybody wants to make a statement!" she spins around, jumping again. "Everybody needs to carve their mark!" she swings her head, stomping her paws as she marches of the table. "To stand alone in the victory circle! Stake their claim as the music STARTS!"

"Give it all, you've got!" pokéumans cheer as she jumps around "You can be the very best ever!" she pops up for a bit on her hind legs to a happy bark from Obi. "Take your best shot! And what you'll learn will come together!"

"It's a whole new world we live in! A whole new way to see! It's a whole new place, with a brand new attitude! But you still gotta catch 'em all! Be the best that you can be!"

"POKÉMON JOHTO!" At the final shout Hybrid comes back down from her singing induced zone out and finally notices all the attention centered on her. Instantly her ears drop down, and her eyes widen. Her tail sinks lower, dropping between her legs. She lets out a small sound as several pokéumans just surge forwards interested in chatting to her. In the background she can hear Daniel laughing and she can just barely see Obi trotting off to happily meet someone else.

As the surge slows, Hybrid is left trying to puzzle out who's saying what. Who's talking. Too many voices all at once, so she frowns, shaking her head.

"Slow down! One at a time! STOP CROWDING ME!" She yelps backing away and ducking under one of the taller pokéumans(a sceptile) before dashing round, finally stopping and panting beside a shiny charmander in a dark blue hoodie, and backwards turned cap.

"I liked your singing!" the charmander says softly, and she jumps before looking at him. She blinks, a small bit of heat rising up to her cheeks beneath her fur.

"Th-thanks..." she says awkwardly, as everyone slowly turns towards them. "Right... big crowd, kind of forgot about them all..." she shifts, before huffing out a small blast of embers. Standing up, she takes a deep breath and surveys the group. At least this time they're not all surging forwards overwhelming her. "Hi there! I'm new!" she greets with a slight tilt of the head before shrinking down. "So... yeah... Uhm... probably best if I go to the medic..."

"Oh!" the charmander perks up slightly beside her. "I can take you there. Mischief!" he calls out and a small grey furred chinchilla pokéuman squirms through the crowd before landing easily on two paws in front of them. Giving a cheerful wave to them both. Daniel trots forwards to stand beside her, and Obi yaps before racing over as well. "I'll get these two to the-"

"THERE YOU TWO ARE!" Daniel and Hybrid both snap their heads round. And Obi lets out a bark of laughter. At the front of the room, the entrance that they came through. Beside the swirlix, and the familiar houndour is Ronan. His grey eyes are entirely too unimpressed.

"Hello Ronan!" Hybrid says, while Daniel lets out a huff and rolls his eyes. "Nice job catching up! We got here alright!" she says while Daniel grumbles something from beside her. The rodent pokéuman seems entirely unimpressed with her explanation and she huffs out another small burst of embers before standing up. Onto all four paws and looks back to the charmander. "Lead the way-"

"I was supposed to be your escort..." Ronan sounds so put out, Hybrid arches a brow, looking back at the rattata with one ear half lowered to the side. "Whatever... come find me later!" he huffs stalking off further into the room. Quickly disappearing into the crowd.

"Right..." the charmander says breaking the awkward silence. "Towards the Medical Wing then!" he leads the way pretty easily, his flaming tail lighting up the darker passages that they pass through. As they walk, Hybrid notes how the ground slowly goes from metalic to more natural. And the air clears up just a little bit. As they walk Daniel gasps, and looking around Hybrid can only marvel.

The walls here are covered in some sort of bioluminescent fungi. It's amazing, and looking up.

"Glow worms..." she breathes, with wide eyes. The charmander in front of them lets out a small laugh before taking a deep breath. Slowing down just slightly. As they slow, Hybrid's ears flicker. There's the distant sound of running water. Abruptly in front of them the charmander freezes. Perring around Hybrid can see a small mound of something.

It looks almost like a door. The charmander glances at them, before facing ahead again. Taking a deep breath he steps forwards, reaches one hand out. And he wraps his claws around a string before pulling it. Both Hybrid and Daniel let out annoyed sounds at the ringing that echoes out. It hurts their ears and the charmander also winces, before offering them a sheepish look.

"Coming!"

There's a couple of crashes heard from beyond the door before an eruption of swears and it's yanked open from the other side. Hybrid blinks while Daniel laughs lightly from her side, because they're staring into the face of a Delcatty. The feline pokémon blinks at them for a moment before smiling.

"Oh! Newcommers, am I right?"

"We just finished transforming ma'am!" Daniel responds and a rather dark look crosses the feline's face.

"I'm a _sir_!" the delcatty says before sighing. "Come in, come, come! We'll have to get you all registered and checked up... Julius is doing Imunizations this meeting and I don't know where the silly grumpig is... Ahh and if you need a therapist... well Rin is currently booked out... hmm, we could ask Sylvia..." the feline continues to mutter to himself as he wanders around the room before hopping up onto a seat and tapping away at a keyboard. "But we can register you... so..." he peers over at them. "Name, Age, B-Day, known issues, species, transformation date, and current move set... Oh! Also country of origin!"

"Daniel, 16, 8th of August, peanut allergy and I guess possibly chocolate know considering I'm a _canine_ pokémon. Poochyena, my transformation began on March 11th and finished on the 18th. My move set... Tackle, Bite and Howl!" he says with a small frown before looking sideways at Hybrid and adding. "Australia!"

"Right... Call me Hybrid, 15, 7th of May, chronic pain and various other issues, does ASD count? Houndour-Shinx hybrid, began transforming on the 15th finished on the 22nd" Hybrid lists off looking off to the side absently, recalling details. "Ember, Bite, Dark Pulse and _Spark_. Australia..."

'{DON'T FORGET US!}' it's Tammy, screaming in her head, abruptly out of nowhere. Enough to make her jump and whip her head around before shaking it.

"Oh right... and the figments..."

"Figments?" the delcatty asks, turning away from the computer for a moment, in curiosity. Before Hybrid can explain there's a distant explosion, followed by laughter and two small forms streak through the room. Cream and blue, cream and red. "Stop doing that you two!" the delcatty screeches, fur puffing up. His only reception is laughter and he sighs before shaking his head.

"Don't mind the twins..." a soft voice says and they all turn to the door. A lilligant stands there holding some papers. She looks at them with soft eyes before looking past them at the delcatty who hisses something in displeasure before returning to the computer. "Don't mind him either..." she shakes her head. "He's been registering pokéumans all day, and managing so many new faces. Seems to be that time. So now, you two good for the basic checkup?"

"Yes!" Daniel squeaks and Hybrid gives him a questioning glance. Before watching as he follows the lilligant into the next room.

"Right... I'll just... wait my turn!" Hybrid says hopping up onto the moss lined seats against the dirt wall.

'{Hey! Hey! Since this is the medical wing... maybe you could-}'

' _Not gonna happen!'_ Hybrid shoots down immediately lying herself out onto the mossy chair, eyes half lidded. _'Even if it's more logical, I just... don't want to risk it. Sorry Tammy. Sorry... uh, I don't actually know who you are!'_ she flickers her ears and yawns.

'{Jane}'

' _Middle name or sister?'_

'{Took inspiration from both, like how Tammy took your nickname as his own... but are you sure, because while I don't trust the delcatty to watch and measure, maybe the lilligant doctor would-}'

' _No..._ ' Hybrid shakes their head before glancing at the door that Daniel had walked through. Back the delcatty and then down at the ground. _'I'm just... not comfortable with it...'_ she explains and Jane lets out a sigh in the back of her mind.

'{I guess... but you can't put it off forever, especially since we _are still pieces of you_. So you're going to have to deal with it at some point...}'

' _I-I know... just not now... not yet...'_ Hybrid sits up as the door swings open and Daniel races out yelping all the way. As he passes she catches something about this being her problem to deal with now and she rolls her eyes.

It's just a checkup, what's he freaking out about?

Hybrid yawns once more before she easily trots into the room and instantly she stops. The walls are absolutely covered in various posters, bits and pieces about pokémon anatomy, an elemental table/type chart, a small model of a human skeleton propped up in the corner, off against the wall a strange machine, and it's... not quite like any doctor's office that Hybrid's been in before. But, at the same time... there's a bed, some chairs, a computer. The usual things... just with more pokémon orientated stuff. The lilligant stands by the computer with a smile and Hybrid slowly refocuses on her, before hopping up onto one of the chairs.

"No, no! Up onto the bed!" the lilligant says and Hybrid nods before jumping up there. Turning around on it a couple times before sitting down. "Now, my name is Holly and I'll be your physician for today. First off, I hope you don't mind the scanner... it's to make sure that everything is reading correctly for your species... although as a pokéuman with Pokéuman Genetic Splicing Syndrome... some fluctuation is to be expected." Holly speaks as she rests small pads on Hybrid, and clicks a band around the hybrid's head. Pulling over a screen she brushes one frond over it and Hybrid yelps as a loud whine fills her ears. "Hmm... well that's interesting..." Holly mutters before pressing something on the screen and there's a flash in her eyes before she just casually moves on.

Removing all the pads and the band, she rests a frond on Hybrid's skull-cap before humming again. Raising a small device in her arms, she holds it up and points it at Hybrid until it beeps.

"Well, that's normal at least..." she mutters before moving over back to the computer, she types something in before looking back at the hybrid pokéuman. "Reflexes!" and Hybrid yelps as small glowing leaves fly her way, instead of dodging them though, she instead takes a deep breath and fires a few embers off. "Well, fairly normal, for a fire type... but try actually dodging!" And again, this time Hybrid follows instructions jumping down and darting around somewhat frantically to avoid the leaves. "Yes, seems normal... although your stamina seems off..." Holly says as she slows beginning to pant. "Typing... seems normal enough, you lean Fire/Dark rather than substituting either for Electric..." she hums before turning around. There's something in her eyes and Hybrid bristles, baring her teeth. "Back up! Time to check that heart of yours and your lungs..."

Hybrid growls, but obediently jumps up back onto the bed. Normal, with just a small bit of some disturbance. Holly checks her ears next, then her eyes getting her to read off the type chart across the room(still good but needs watching), checks her throat, shining a light down it and getting her to open wide, and finally she gets Hybrid to submit to a blood test. And suddenly Hybrid understands _why_ Daniel ran off. Idiot's scared of needles.

Hybrid isn't, so she lets the lilligant poke her and fill up two small tubes with her blood for some tests.

"Alright... you should be good to go!" Holly says before pausing. "But... you'll need to come back here in a few days for the results from your blood test and... go see Michelle the Sylveon... there's something off about your fluctuation point."


	10. Chapter 10

Hybrid can feel the silence from her figments. Feel the way that she stiffens just slightly. She forces a grin over her face and looks at Holly, who's eyes have narrowed on her. Judging her response carefully. And slowly Hybrid drops the smile, her ears flattening and her tail lowering.

"R-right... I'll do that then..." she says awkwardly shifting in place before jumping down. "It's good to know that I'm otherwise healthy... I'll see you later!" she says backing out of the room slowly before racing off. Back down the hall lit by glow worms and bioluminescent fungi. The further away she goes the more she slows down, until eventually she's trotting at a more moderate pace and looking around the area with interest. Curiosity, she kind of wants to go exploring now. To find out what else is here. But... She pauses as dirt returns to metal beneath her paws and looks back.

Holly specifically told her to see someone.

So she should do that... right?

Right!

Except that she's really not that inclined to listen. Oh she knows that she should listen, but where's the interest in that? And besides, she doesn't have any clue of where she would head to actually find and talk to the person mentioned. So she just shakes herself off and continues onwards instead. Only to freeze for a moment, just a bit ahead she can see someone. A fluffy eevee, who isn't looking at her. But there is something just a bit off about this eevee. And finally they seem to notice her.

There's a long moment where nothing happens before the eevee is up and moving before she can react. Well, mostly, she recovers fast, something in her screaming that she needs to follow the eevee. So she does, skidding around corners and racing past rooms with numbers on the doors. Scrambling to keep her paws under her feet as the ground gets more and more slippery. Until finally she's forced to skid to a stop when the eevee disappears completely. Leaving her in a new area.

Well, new to her at least.

It's crumbling, in disrepair really. Beams and pieces of the ceiling lying around. And, as she slowly walks over the slippery tile, she notices the brown stains on the ground. Stains that she recognizes, if only because of how often she's stained her own clothing with similar stains. Blood. Old and dry, and yet. She takes a deep breath, still able to smell the rotten crusty scent of dried blood. She walks slowly, ears lowering against her head. Both of the figments are completely silent as well. And finally she comes across something different. A broken door, with char and debris around it. But also...

A broken helmet, with some sparking cords. She steps around it, before raising herself up on her hind legs and peering in. Everything is ruined. Computer screens smashed and thrown to the ground, desks in bits and pieces, piled up against the wall. Cords in a tangled mess over the floor, other bits of broken machinery, but... What makes her pause is the figure in the very center of it all. A small almost harmless looking familiar pokémon. One that Hybrid personally knows quite well considering how often it's on their top ten favourite pokémon lists. A _pichu_. But it's all alone, curled up in the center of the room. Not looking in her direction, not looking in any direction the way they're curled.

And despite the fact that her instincts are screaming warnings, she takes a deep breath and easily jumps through the hole in the door. Instantly the smell of the room just intensifies. The scent is a mixture of dried blood, char and electrical failure. And there's something else, beneath that which makes her want to retch. But she swallows, forcing herself to lick her lips and slink forwards. Carefully stepping over broken glass and still sparking cords. Wondering why nobody's cleaned this all up.

Wondering why the small pichu in front of her is not responding in the slightest. She slowly steps forwards, before halting. Standing almost in the middle of the wreckage, barely a meter or two between her and the pichu. She tilts her head one way, and then the other. Simply breathing, observing them. Trying to find the words within her to call out to them, to ask if they're okay. And yet, there is something just beyond them. Something else in her view, something small that catches her eyes.

And catches the words in her throat.

A small paw, familiar, but dulled and washed out. With grey stains around on the wall and floor beneath where it's hanging. Hybrid swallows slowly, before taking a small step backwards, Jane making small distressed noises in her head. The pichu remains still and Hybrid gives just another glance at it. Now able to see the faint glow around it. The small pulse and beat of an ethereal glow. An aura that does not belong to someone or something alive.

'{That poor pichu!}' Jane moans, distress finally moving her to speak within Hybrid's head. '{How could they do this to them!}' Hybrid can only nod her head in agreement, but the real question is, who is the them who done this? Pokéumans? Pokextinction? This is some kind of war after all and she has no idea which side is good, which side is bad. Not truly, because while Pokextinction has been painted in a negative light thus far, Hybrid hasn't heard the full story.

She only knows what she's read. Small snippets from Deviantart, and what she's heard. From Mr. B Poextinction is full of lazy people who can't do their job right, but she's never seen anyone actually from Pokéumans, none of the PRT.

And now there's this. The Base that the Roamers' Association is using as a meeting place. And she still has no idea what's going on.

'{Who could do this?}' Jane whines in her head, and she can almost picture a shaken head. '{It's a waste of life, a waste of resources... but...}'

 _'Which side of the war is behind this?'_ Hybrid wonders, closing her eyes before looking once more at the small pichu. She's not assuming anything, she _can't_ assume anything, they could be a child, they could be an adult, there's no way to know. But the fact is, the evidence that's staring her straight in the face cannot be denied. This is still a life lost far too soon. _'Did anyone even care?'_ she swallows, and narrows her eyes. Determination firming up her frame as she takes yet another step forwards. Just enough to finally catch the pichu's attention. To cause them to look at her.

And, they look unharmed. Grey eyes meet her own, and they tilt their head. Blinking slowly they stand up and their ears twitch.

*Did master send you to fetch me?* they ask sounding oh so hopeful and something in Hybrid's chest lurches, shattering. *I thought that they would never remember me? Do I have a new mission? Is there anything I can help with?* They sound so young, so innocent and Hybrid forces herself to swallow. Forces herself to speak.

"Not exactly..."

*Oh...* the pichu falls silent, looking down at the ground. *Then why are you here? Wait... I don't recognize you, are you new?*

"Very!" Hybrid nods her head, before looking up. "I just recently finished transforming, and I just want to know... are you okay?" The pichu nods their head before sitting back down. Small feet sticking up and ears twitching.

*That makes sense!* they cheerfully chirp before narrowing their eyes. *So, you're one of ours? Or one of _theirs?_ *

"Neither!" Hybrid says shaking her head. "Just a Roamer passing through!"

'{But, Oh- I see your point!}' Tammy says before huffing something angrily that she can't quite catch. The pichu blinks before nodding their head. Seemingly coming to some decision before turning and sitting back down with their back facing her. Apparently that's the end of the conversation. Hybrid flickers her ears before sniffing the air, looking off to the side at the small corpse and shaking her head. Turning she jumps through the broken door and simply sways on the spot.

Not sure whether to turn back or to continue.

In the end, it's the mystery that drives her forwards. The want, no _need_ to find out more about this place. What it once was before it became the Roamers' Base. Yet she doesn't find anything else nearly as interesting as the destroyed room. There are a few more of the ethereally flickering pokémon, some of them conversing with one another and one, _one_ that causes her to stop in her tracks for a moment. Merely watching as the flickering Emboar walks past carrying a pack of equally ethereal paperwork. Now that's a mind screw.

'{Did... did we eat something funny?}' Tammy asks in her head sounding for all the world bewildered. Hybrid can only shake her head. '{Then what is this madness... Oh... Wait a second I'll-}' he's cut off as he heads further into their mental scape. Hybrid just shakes her head, ignoring it. He'll probably come back with the information later on. Instead she just keeps trotting down the halls that all look the same aside the variations of the debris around. Trotting around the fallen beams and items until she comes across yet another oddity that makes her stop.

It's a mural. To some description anyway. With a Mewtwo depicted in the middle of it all and people(and pokémon) all bowing around it. Hybrid sits for a moment simply staring at the mural, before one ear twitches and she turns slightly. Able to see someone coming. A small familiar form, the minccino from earlier. The smaller pokéuman easily navigates the fallen debris before stopping atop one of the fallen beams. They give a small glance to the mural before looking at her. Ears and tail twitching. Before they take a deep breath and shake their head.

"You shouldn't be down here!"

"I know..." Hybrid says, returning her gaze to the mural. "But..."

"No! You shouldn't be down here. No one comes down to this level, or lower... Some of-" the minccino cuts herself off before shaking her head rapidly. "You just shouldn't be down here okay! It's not safe!"

"Some of what could be here?" Hybrid asks, eyes narrowing and the minccino taps one foot against the ground before rapidly shaking her head. "Okay, just... I'm still lost and new to this whole thing... nobodies explained anything yet..." she lowers her head down just a bit, eyes still focused on the mural and she can hear the minccino sigh.

"Yeah, well, I'm probably not the best person to give you the explanation..." she says shaking her head. The minccino plops down beside her. "What, with my Extinctionist roots and all... heh, not that any of the shades around here would be much better, they can't talk and all..."

"Shades?" Hybrid asks, raising her head in confusion, looking at the smaller Pokéumans who nods her head.

"Yeah, the shades! I'm guessing you can see them to, considering you raced off after one just before I was gonna call you over. Show you my shop you know... They don't really do much aside wander the place. Sad really."

"But... can't you see them as Pokémon?" Hybrid asks and the smaller shakes their head.

"Nah, just grey blobs of spiritual resonance. Why? Do you see them as something more?" Hybrid is about to say something when the minccino laughs before shaking her head. "Anyway, I should get back to the Shop... so many potential customers around you know! Come by if you get the chance, I might have something for you... Better than that silly shark tooth anyway!"

"It is not silly..." Hybrid mutters as the minccino takes off. Soon disappearing. Glancing one last time at the mural Hybrid shakes her head. And wanders back down the hall. Giving each of the glowing pokéumans the 'shades' long looks as she passes them. And at the end of the hall she peers into the first room again... and as expected. The small pichu is back once more. But they're holding something in their arms, and staring at it. Hybrid steps back swallowing before continuing.

Finding her way out is easier than it was to find her way in. It's as simple as finding the ramp back up. _Ramps_. Because of pokémon without legs she supposes. And she's soon back in the upper floors. The ones actually being used. And she takes a deep breath sitting herself down at the top of the ramp before closing her eyes. There's a lot for her to take in and think about now. Because it's not normal to see ghosts. And according to that minccino other people can see them... but only as blobs of grey, of spiritual resonance. Which is wrong, because Hybrid _can see them_ as people. As pokéumans.

She takes another deep breath, before opening her eyes. And something flashes in them, as she stands up. She's about to turn and walk right back down there. To find one of the ghosts to talk to when something stops her. At the other end of the hall. Again she sees that familiar eevee. Glowing with the light that indicates an undead state. And she narrows her eyes, before racing forwards. The eevee nods and flicks his tail, racing off. Once more leading her round and round until disappearing.

Leaving her to slide to a stop in front of yet another new place.

Nothing is broken here at least. No instead it's just a plain door in front of her. With an awkwardly hung sign up on it. Hybrid tilts her head back trying to peer up at the sign to read it. And she fails, with a groan she falls backwards before frowning. This is not much of a better angle. In fact it serves to make it harder to read. With a small grumble to herself Hybrid pushes herself back up on all fours, before she raises up on her hind legs. Wavering awkwardly. She peers at the plate.

Scrawled on it, in hasty cursive is a name that she's just barely able to make out.

Michelle

That name's familiar. And she drops back down blinking her eyes as it hits her. _Michelle the Sylveon_. The one she was told to go see by Holly. Taking a deep breath she prepares herself. Before gently pushing the door open and peering around. Nobody seems to be there, and she steps inside, the door swinging shut behind her. She takes a deep breath, looking one way around the room and then the other. Awkwardly, she sits down and shifts.

"Hello?"


	11. Chapter 11

The silence stretches out as she sits and simply waits for some kind of response. As she waits, she investigates the room just that little bit closer. Like the room where she met with Holly it's clean. With various strange things organized around the room, there's a desk and a computer, with a swivel chair, the kind that spins around as you sit on it. There's a bed set up near the back, and interestingly enough, unlike Holly's doctor's office this one has a few personal touches.

It looks lived in.

There's some photos on the wall, and up on the desk. Depicting various pokémon, various pokéumans at the front of many pictures in an eevee, and in others is a sylveon. There's a kind of progression to the images she notes with an amused flicker of one ear. Shaking her head she lets her eyes flick up to the wall, and the posters and paintings on the wall, some are motivational, others...

There's a rainforest scene, a waterfall, and a Pokémon Jhoto Poster.

All in all, while it still feels like a doctor's office, with all the trappings of one, there's the personal touch here that makes it feel... more.

'{Is... is there anyone actually here?}' Tammy's voice in her head is startling, and she jolts. Snapping back to a straighter position, before realizing that there was nobody actually there. Tilting her head she wonders the same thing.

' _There... there doesn't seem to be'_ Hybrid muses, before huffing out a breath. Standing back up she shakes her head and turns around ready to leave. It takes a moment, but the sight behind her causes her to sit straight back down. Ears flattening and eyes widening.

'{WHERE DID THE DOOR GO?}'Tammy's scream is unnecessary but he makes the point for her. The door is just gone, the wall where it had been is blank. Uniform with the metal around it. It's as if there was no door. Curious at the phenomenon Hybrid gets back up and walks forwards. Looking first one way, then the other to see if she can't figure out what happened.

No answer becomes obvious.

It just remains a wall.

Now that's just, odd. Hybrid doesn't know how to really respond to that, not beyond what she's already done. She tentatively sniffs at the spot the door was, nothing about the scent seems odd. But to be fair this is the first time that she's ever really thought about using her nose to pick up something. She's a canine pokémon, pokéuman. So her nose must be more sensitive. But all she can smell is the uniform scent of the metal. Screwing up her nose she pulls a face.

Bewildered.

There's a scraping grinding noise from behind her, causing her to spin around, automatically dropping into a crouch, raising her hackles and baring her teeth. Only to blink in confusion, watching the far wall shift, and slide its way up. Leaving a new opening. She tilts her head, before once more getting instinctively defensive as a figure prances out of the revealed tunnel.

A familiar, albeit new figure.

A sylveon.

"No need to be so defensive" they laugh, voice light and airy. Even as the wall behind them slides back down, with a solid thud. "Did Holly send you my way?" the sylveon asks landing easily on the swivel chair spinning around a couple of times before facing her.

"Yes!" Hybrid inclines her head and the sylveon grins, before spinning the chair around to face the computer.

Tapping away with her front paws the fairy pokéuman hums before spinning around once more to face her. A calculating expression on her face. Tilting her head one way, and then the other, before hopping down.

"Well, aren't you an interesting one!" the sylveon says, with a smile. "Anyway, I'm Michelle and I'll be your physician for this evening! Particularly though, I specialize in Pokéuman genetic fluctuation levels... and tests of that nature..." she says, tail and ears flickering in amusement.

"And that means..."

"Well, as a hybrid your fluctuation would already be off for the average of your species..." Michelle says, bouncing back up to her chair. "But most hybrid's still have a relatively stable fluctuation point of about 8%, regular pokéumans have a fluctuation point closer to 5% to account for evolution, along with I guess the use of humanization technology and whatever moves do, with eevee and its evolutions(like myself) being the odd ones out at around 10%"

"Okay, but what does that even mean?"

"Well, your fluctuation point is off. Rather than being stable, it's well, a little bit unstable." Hybrid pulls a face at that statement, and the sylveon shakes her head. "The issue is, when someone transforms, any excess DNA is usually retroactively absorbed into the base code, or the prime ancestor. Which in your case must be Houndour/Houndoom, since that's the majority of your make-up. Your secondary is obviously the Shinx/Luxio/Luxray line, normally, that's where it would end. And your fluctuation point would stabilize higher than a pure pokéuman of one species or the other, but stable..." Michelle says, tapping on the keys, and bringing up a chart. "But you still have... what we call, useless DNA!"

"So it hasn't been reabsorbed?" Hybrid asks, not understanding anything that's been displayed on the screen. Whether it's the numbers, or the small pop-ups from a little model of herself on the screen. Michelle shakes her head, before turning to her eyes narrowed in focus. "So, uh, any idea what might have caused that?"

"Nope!" Michelle states, far, far too happily before jumping down and practically stalking towards Hybrid.

Nervous, Hybrid backs away, until her tail is against the wall. Her tail waves a little bit, awkwardly, as she offers a sheepish grin up at the slightly taller pokéuman. Michelle looks down at her, something in those blue eyes studying her closely. Reading something about her apparently. On edge, Hybrid finds herself shifting, baring her teeth again, and inching into a more aggressive stance.

Electricity sparks in their fur and Michelle nods her head. Seemingly finding what she was looking for.

The sylveon spins on a dime and leaps up onto the swivel chair before bringing up a display once more.

"Let's scan you quickly just one more time..." Michelle says, almost singing the statement. Hybrid doesn't argue, stepping forwards, hopping up onto the bed and letting the sylveon fix all the pads and the bands onto her. "Now here we go!" again Hybrid winces as a loud whining fills her ears, and Michelle hums, tapping away at the computer before finally cutting it off. "Quick question... did you suffer from any kind of serious trauma during your transformation? Such as contact with some unknown substance in use by pokextinction(or pokéumans), or suffer an attack from an already transformed pokéuman?"

"Uh..." Hybrid has to think for a moment.

'{The furious gardevoir!}' Tammy fills in the blank.

"Yeah, there was a pretty furious gardevoir that I had an encounter with... third day of my transformation..." Hybrid says, waving one paw awkwardly.

"And they attacked you?"

"Yeah, that was definitely an attack..." Hybrid's voice sounds a touch sarcastic as she reflects on being plucked off the ground and her mind being, well torn apart. "Actually split me, I think... or else exacerbated the already existing problem..."

"Oh? Is that the Figments?"

"Yeah! The figments!" Hybrid agrees nodding her head. Michelle hums, before jumping down. Leaving the screen visible, although to Hybrid it's still nonsense.

"Well, your fluctuation point seems to have finally stabilized, at about 14%" Michelle frowns at some of the clutter around the room before swiftly moving to clear it. "And I think that I have a theory about why you've still got some useless DNA..."

'{I have a bad feeling...}' Jane's voice echoes in the back of her head, even as she watches Michelle finish clearing up a decent area. Before nodding to herself and looking at the hybrid with a grin.

"It's all related!" Michelle says, before straightening up. "Now! I need you to see if you can, tag out! Tag in!"

"What?"

"You know! Swap with one of those figments of yours!" Michelle says, tilting her head. "Because if I'm correct, the sudden influx of foreign psychic energy early on in your transformation altered the progression of things. It left an imprint by locking that 'useless' DNA to your figments, and left the paths still there. Therefore the fluctuation, which means unfortunately you trade the ability to evolve, for the ability to _swap_. At least, that's what I believe has happened!" Michelle nods her head, before straightening and staring at Hybrid. "Now, tag out! Don't worry, I'll be right here, in case anything goes wrong!"

"Alright!"

Hybrid takes a deep breath. Closing her eyes. Shaking a little bit. Not quite sure what to think, but within her head.

'{Finally!}'

'{It's about time!}' Tammy says. '{Now let's do this!}'

Alright.

Deep breaths.

In.

Out.

* * *

And Hybrid keeps her eyes shut, focusing on the feeling of her breaths. In and out, until she can get a sense of falling. Down into her own mind. Hopefully. Her eyes snap open, and she blinks. Sitting across from her are two figures. Around them pulse so many colours, cerise pink, citron green, apple green, crimson and lavender. But Hybrid can only stare.

"You're a..."

"Vulpix!" Jane says, flicking her tails and smiling. "Yes I know, alright then Tammy!" she looks at the inverted cyndaquil beside her who smirks. "You're up!"

"About time you switched out!" Tammy says, puffing himself up before charging past her. Hybrid doesn't have a chance to react beyond a small startled gasp, and spinning around, to reach after him.

* * *

Outside of their mental space, the change between them takes a matter of seconds. The body jerking as its form undergoes rapid transformation. So fast that a light seems to glow from the limbs. As it shrinks and twists, before finally settling. Looking just like Tammy. An inverse coloured cyndaquil, with a small bit of fuzz on his head.

He blinks his eyes open carefully before shaking his head. Looking one way, before the other and finally looking up at Michelle curiously.

"Well, that worked!" He says, observing his stubby limbs with a grin.

'{Tammy! Tammy! You take good care of my body you hear!}'

'{It's our body Hybrid!}' Jane corrects and the cyndaquil huffs out a burst of laughter before resting back and looking at Michelle.

"So, was there a reason to this beyond curiosity?" he asks. "Because yes, it worked, completely... gender included!" he says, sounding just a touch confused by that last point, a small flush rising up under his fur. "Uh... was that supposed to change? I thought it was just a mental thing..."

"Psychic energy influx! It must have supercharged the genes, which then linked to you. And yes! As I suspected you can swap!" Michelle bounces on the spot before jumping down over to the wall, raising a paw she taps a slot and the wall slides away. "Now then! Let's see if the rest of my guess was accurate! Do you, as an alternate person, do you have a completely unique move set?"

'{Tammy? Please be careful when using your moves... the transformation itself took a lot of energy...}' Hybrid says, sounding a little bit frustrated. '{You need to build it back up by eating, rapid fire transformations like that sap a lot from you, it's kind of why werewolves are such voracious eaters immediately after transforming... and therefore mistakenly bloodthirsty...}'

'{The smart ones eat a lot before transforming, or leave food nearby!}' Jane agrees. '{We might need to organise rapid snack packs...}'

"I am... pretty hungry honestly..." Tammy says with a frown, shaking his head. Michelle pauses just ahead of him, looking back with her tail erect in the air.

"Oh?"

"I said, I'm pretty hungry honestly!" Tammy says, letting out a puff of embers in his annoyance. "So can we, I dunno grab something to eat." The sylveon pauses before nodding her head.

Realizing the same thing that Hybrid and Jane did. Such a rapid transformation would take a lot of energy to sustain. And that energy would need to be rebuilt afterwards by eating. It's the same reason that athletes have big appetites, or rather eat multiple times a day because of how their metabolism burns through the food that they use to fuel their bodies.

In this case though, it's more that they're using it all in one quick burst.

For a rapid change. Michelle still leads them quickly through the tunnel. Before emerging into a familiar room. The mess hall. Confused Tammy spins around, to see where they came out from. Nothing but a solid wall.

'{That must be some kind of set up here...}' Hybrid muses. As Tammy shakes his head. '{I wonder how it works...}' They're both distracted as Michelle whistles. Calling them over. The sylveon smiles, before waving a paw over the offerings of food. Around them, are many other pokéumans. Some of them just eating, others only just arriving. Many of them talking, Tammy looks around for a moment. Frowning before peering at the food.

Berries.

But also, some strange nuts, and breads, and other things that just don't strike them as familiar. Although the meat is definitely familiar enough.

'{Carnivore food!}' Hybrid cheerfully calls in the back of his mind. Tammy snickers, before selecting a bunch of the berries, and some of the meat along with grabbing one of the moomoo milk drinks that are being offered.

It's delicious, and he hums in pleasure as he eats. Ignoring the grumbling from Hybrid in the back of his head. Finally finishing off the last few bites, he lets out a relieved sigh. And Michelle laughs, before jumping up.

"Alright! All recharged!" Michelle says, and he nods his head. "Alright then! Time to test your move set!"


End file.
